^^, 


ITALIAN  VILLAS 
THEIR  GARDENS 

BY 

EDITH  WHARTON 

WITH   PICTVRES   BY 
MAXFIELD  RARRFSH 


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(Ebp  i.  in.  'Mi  liibrarg 


-pecial 
Collect 

1904 


North  (Earohna  i^tatp  HniaprHtty 

IN  HONOR  OF 

DORIS  B.  MERITT 

BY 

DR.  JOSEPH  E.  MERITT 


""""  5«»0U'H  STATE  UMVEIISITY  II6«»III£S 


S00943476   X 


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ITALIAN    VILLAS   AND 
THEIR    GARDENS 


I  I 


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KM 


ITALIAN  VILLAS 

AND  THEIR  GARDENS 


BY 


EDITH   WHARTON 


ILLUSTRATED  WITH  PICTURES  BY 

MAXFIELD  PARRISH 

AND   BY   PHOTOGRAPHS 


im=! 


NEW  YORK 
THE  CENTURY  CO. 

1904 


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Copyright,  1903,  1904,  by 
Thk  Century  Co. 


Published  JVoz'ember^  ^904 


THE  DEVINNE  PRESS 


TO 

VERNON   LEE 

WHO,  BETTER  THAN   ANY   ONE   ELSE,  HAS   UNDERSTOOD 

AND   INTERPRETED  THE   GARDEN-MAGIC 

OF   ITALY 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION 5 

I 
FLORENTINE   VILLAS 19 

II 

SIENESE    VILLAS 63 

III 

ROMAN    VILLAS 81 

IV 

VILLAS    NEAR    ROME 

I     Caprarola  and  Lante 127 

II     Villa   d'Este 139 

III     Frascati 148 

V 
GENOESE   VILLAS 173 

VI 
LOMBARD   VILLAS 197 

VII 

VILLAS   OF   VENETIA 231 

vii 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Villa  Campi,  near  Florence        Frontispiece 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

The  Reservoir,  Villa  Falconieri,  Frascati 4 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

The  Cascade,  Villa  Torlonia,  Frascati 9 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

Fountain  of  Venus,  Villa  Petraja,  Florence i8 

From  a  Photograph. 

Villa  Gamberaia  at  Settignano,  near  Florence 20 

Drawn  by  C.  A.  Vanderhoof,  from  a  Photograph. 

Boboli  Garden,  Florence 24 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

Entrance  to  Upper  Garden,  Boboli  Garden,  Florence    ....        27 

From  a  Photograph. 

Cypress  Alley,  Boboli  Garden,  Florence 31 

From  a  Photograph. 

Ilex-walk,  Boboli  Garden,  Florence r     .     .     .        36 

From  a  Photograph. 

Villa  Gamberaia,  near  Florence 39 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

View  of  Amphitheatre,  Boboli  Garden,  Florence 44 

From  a  Photograph. 

Villa  Corsini,  Florence 49 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

Vicobello,  Siena 62 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

ix 


LIST    OF     ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

La  Palazzina  (Villa  Gori),  Siena 67 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

The  Theatre  at  La  Palazzina,  Siena 73 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

The  Dome  of  St.  Peter's,  from  the  Vatican  Gardens      ....       80 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

Entrance  to  Forecourt,  Villa  Borghese,  Rome 87 

From  a  Photograph. 

Grotto,  Villa  di  Papa  Giulio,  Rome 91 

From  a  Pliotograph. 

Temple  of  .(Esculapius,  Villa  Borghese,  Rome 96 

From  a  Photograph. 

Villa  Medici,  Rome lOO 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

Courtyard  Gate  of  the  Villa  Pia,  Vatican  Gardens 102 

Drawn  by  E.  Denison,  from  a  Photograph. 

Villa  Pia — In  the  Gardens  of  the  Vatican 105 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

Gateway  of  the  Villa  Borghese 108 

Drawn  by  E.  Denison,  from  a  Photograph. 

Villa  Chigi,  Rome Hi 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

Parterres  on  Terrace,  Villa  Belrespiro  (Pamphily-Doria),  Rome     .      116 

From  a  Photograph. 

View    from   Lower  Garden,  Villa  Belrespiro   (Pamphily-Doria), 
Rome 121 

From  a  Photograph. 

Villa  d'Este,  Tivoli 126 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

Villa  Caprarola 129 

From  a  retouched  Photograph. 

The  Casino,  Villa  Farnese,  Caprarola 133 

From  a  Photograph. 

Villa  Lante,  Bagnaia 138 

From  a  Photograph. 


LIST     OF     ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

The  Pool,  Villa  d'Este,  Tivoli 141 

Drawn  by  Max  field  Parrish. 

Villa  Lante,  Bagnaia 146 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

Cascade  and  Rotunda,  Villa  Aldobrandini,  Frascati       ....      149 

From  a  Photograph. 

Garden  of  Villa  Lancellotti,  Frascati 153 

From  a  Photograph. 

Casino,  Villa  Falconieri,  Frascati        157 

From  a  Photograph. 

The  Entrance,  Villa  Falconieri,  Frascati 161 

From  a  Photograph. 

Villa  Lancellotti,  Frascati 165 

From  a  Photograph. 

Villa  Scassi,  Genoa 1 72 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

A  Garden-niche,  Villa  Scassi,  Genoa      .........      181 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

Villa  Cicogna,  Bisuschio ig6 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

Villa  Isola  Bella,  Lake  Maggiore 203 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

In  the  Gardens  of  Isola  Bella,  Lake  Maggiore 210 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

Villa  Cicogna,  from  the  Terrace  above  the  House 216 

From  a  Photograph. 


Villa  Pliniana,  Lake  Como        221 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

Iron  Gates  of  the  Villa  Alario  (now  Visconti  di  Saliceto)    .     .     .     224 

Drawn  by  E.  Denison,  from  a  Photograph. 

Railing  of  the  Villa  Alario 225 

Drawn  by  Malcolm  Fraser,  from  a  Photograph, 

Gateway  of  the  Botanic  Garden,  Padua 230 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 


LIST    OF     ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

View  at  Val  San  Zibio,  near  Battaglia 235 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 

Plan  of  the  Botanic  Garden,  Padua 239 

Drawn  by  E.  Denison,  from  Sketch  by  the  Author. 

Val  San  Zibio,  near  Battaglia 241 

Drawn  by  Maxfiekl  Parrish. 

Gateway,  Villa  Pisani,  Stra 244 

Drawn  by  E.  Denison,  from  a  Photograph. 

Villa  Valmarana,  Vicenza 247 

Drawn  by  Maxfield  Parrish. 


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ITALIAN   VILLAS   AND 
THEIR    GARDENS 


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ITALIAN  VILLAS  AND 
THEIR   GARDENS 


INTRODUCTION 

ITALIAN    GARDEN-MAGIC 

THOUGH  it  is  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  there 
are  no  flowers  in  Itahan  gardens,  yet  to  enjoy  and 
appreciate  the  Italian  garden-craft  one  must 
always  bear  in  mind  that  it  is  independent  of  floriculture. 

The  Italian  garden  does  not  exist  for  its  flowers ; 
its  flowers  exist  for  it:  they  are  a  late  and  infrequent 
adjunct  to  its  beauties,  a  parenthetical  grace  counting 
only  as  one  more  touch  in  the  general  effect  of  en- 
chantment. This  is  no  doubt  partly  explained  by  the 
difficulty  of  cultivating  any  but  spring  flowers  in  so  hot 
and  dry  a  climate,  and  the  result  has  been  a  wonderful 
development  of  the  more  permanent  effects  to  be  ob- 
tained from  the  three  other  factors  in  garden-composi- 
tion—  marble,  water  and  perennial  verdure  —  and  the 
achievement,  by  their  skilful  blending,  of  a  charm  inde- 
pendent of  the  seasons. 

It  is  hard  to  explain  to  the  modern  garden-lover, 

5 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

whose  whole  conception  of  the  charm  of  gardens  is  formed 
of  successive  pictures  of  flower-lovehness,  how  this  effect 
of  enchantment  can  be  produced  by  anything  so  dull 
and  monotonous  as  a  mere  combination  of  clipped  green 
and  stone-work. 

The  traveller  returning  from  Italy,  with  his  eyes  and 
imagination  full  of  the  ineffable  Italian  garden-magic, 
knows  vaguely  that  the  enchantment  exists  ;  that  he  has 
been  under  its  spell,  and  that  it  is  more  potent,  more 
enduring,  more  intoxicating  to  every  sense  than  the 
most  elaborate  and  glowing  effects  of  modern  horticul- 
ture ;  but  he  may  not  have  found  the  key  to  the  mys- 
tery. Is  it  because  the  sky  is  bluer,  because  the  vege- 
tation is  more  luxuriant?  Our  midsummer  skies  are 
almost  as  deep,  our  foliage  is  as  rich,  and  perhaps  more 
varied ;  there  are,  indeed,  not  a  few  resemblances  be- 
tween the  North  American  summer  climate  and  that  of 
Italy  in  spring  and  autumn. 

Some  of  those  who  have  fallen  under  the  spell  are 
inclined  to  ascribe  the  Italian  garden-magic  to  the  effect 
of  time  ;  but,  wonder-working  as  this  undoubtedly  is,  it 
leaves  many  beauties  unaccounted  for.  To  seek  the 
answer  one  must  go  deeper :  the  garden  must  be  studied 
in  relation  to  the  house,  and  both  in  relation  to  the  land- 
scape. The  garden  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  garden  one 
sees  in  old  missal  illuminations  and  in  early  woodcuts, 
was  a  mere  patch  of  ground  within  the  castle  precincts, 
where  "simples"  were  grown  around  a  central  well- 

6 


ITALIAN    GARDEN-MAGIC 

head  and  fruit  was  espaliered  against  the  walls.  But 
in  the  rapid  flowering  of  Italian  civilization  the  castle 
walls  were  soon  thrown  down,  and  the  garden  expanded, 
taking  in  the  fish-pond,  the  bowling-green,  the  rose- 
arbour  and  the  clipped  walk.  The  Italian  country  house, 
especially  in  the  centre  and  the  south  of  Italy,  was 
almost  always  built  on  a  hillside,  and  one  day  the 
architect  looked  forth  from  the  terrace  of  his  villa,  and 
saw  that,  in  his  survey  of  the  garden,  the  enclosing 
landscape  was  naturally  included :  the  two  formed  a 
part  of  the  same  composition. 

The  recognition  of  this  fact  was  the  first  step  in  the 
development  of  the  great  garden-art  of  the  Renaissance: 
the  next  was  the  architect's  discovery  of  the  means  by 
which  nature  and  art  might  be  fused  in  his  picture.  He 
had  now  three  problems  to  deal  with :  his  garden  must  be 
adapted  to  the  architectural  lines  of  the  house  it  adjoined; 
it  must  be  adapted  to  the  requirements  of  the  inmates  of 
the  house,  in  the  sense  of  providing  shady  walks,  sunny 
bowling-greens,  parterres  and  orchards,  all  conveniently 
accessible ;  and  lastly  it  must  be  adapted  to  the  land- 
scape around  it.  At  no  time  and  in  no  country  has  this 
triple  problem  been  so  successfully  dealt  with  as  in  the 
treatment  of  the  Italian  country  house  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  sixteenth  to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury ;  and  in  the  blending  of  different  elements,  the 
subtle  transition  from  the  fixed  and  formal  lines  of  art 
to  the  shifting  and  irregular  lines  of  nature,  and  lastly 

7 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

in  the  essential  convenience  and  livableness  of  the  gar- 
den, Hes  the  fundamental  secret  of  the  old  garden-magic. 

However  much  other  factors  may  contribute  to  the 
total  impression  of  charm,  yet  by  eliminating  them  one 
after  another,  by  thinking  aiuay  the  flowers,  the  sunlight, 
the  rich  tinting  of  time,  one  finds  that,  underlying  all 
these,  there  is  the  deeper  harmony  of  design  which  is 
independent  of  any  adventitious  effects.  This  does  not 
imply  that  a  plan  of  an  Italian  garden  is  as  beautiful  as 
the  garden  itself.  The  more  permanent  materials  of 
which  the  latter  is  made — the  stonework,  the  evergreen 
foliage,  the  effects  of  rushing  or  motionless  water,  above 
all  the  lines  of  the  natural  scenery — all  form  a  part  of 
the  artist's  design.  But  these  things  are  as  beautiful  at 
one  season  as  at  another ;  and  even  these  are  but  the 
accessories  of  the  fundamental  plan.  The  inherent 
beauty  of  the  garden  lies  in  the  grouping  of  its  parts  — 
in  the  converging  lines  of  its  long  ilex-walks,  the  alter- 
nation of  sunny  open  spaces  with  cool  woodland  shade, 
the  proportion  between  terrace  and  bowling-green,  or 
between  the  height  of  a  wall  and  the  width  of  a  path. 
None  of  these  details  was  negligible  to  the  landscape- 
architect  of  the  Renaissance :  he  considered  the  distri- 
bution of  shade  and  sunlight,  of  straight  lines  of  masonry 
and  rippled  lines  of  foliage,  as  carefully  as  he  weighed 
the  relation  of  his  whole  composition  to  the  scene 
about  it. 

Then,  again,  any  one  who  studies  the  old   Italian 


ITALIAN    GARDEN-MAGIC 

gardens  will  be  struck  with  the  way  in  which  the  archi- 
tect broadened  and  simphfied  his  plan  if  it  faced  a 
grandiose  landscape.  Intricacy  of  detail,  complicated 
groupings  of  terraces,  fountains,  labyrinths  and  porti- 
coes, are  found  in  sites  where  there  is  no  great  sweep 
of  landscape  attuning  the  eye  to  larger  impressions. 
The  farther  north  one  goes,  the  less  grand  the  land- 
scape becomes  and  the  more  elaborate  the  garden.  The 
great  pleasure-grounds  overlooking  the  Roman  Cam- 
pagna  are  laid  out  on  severe  and  majestic  lines :  the 
parts  are  few ;  the  total  effect  is  one  of  breadth  and 
simplicity. 

It  is  because,  in  the  modern  revival  of  gardening,  so 
little  attention  has  been  paid  to  these  first  principles  of 
the  art  that  the  garden-lover  should  not  content  himself 
with  a  vague  enjoyment  of  old  Italian  gardens,  but 
should  try  to  extract  from  them  principles  which  may 
be  applied  at  home.  He  should  observe,  for  instance, 
that  the  old  Italian  garden  was  meant  to  be  lived  in  — 
a  use  to  which,  at  least  in  America,  the  modern  garden 
is  seldom  put.  He  should  note  that,  to  this  end,  the 
grounds  were  as  carefully  and  conveniently  planned  as 
the  house,  with  broad  paths  (in  which  two  or  more 
could  go  abreast)  leading  from  one  division  to  another ; 
with  shade  easily  accessible  from  the  house,  as  well  as 
a  sunny  sheltered  walk  for  winter ;  and  with  effective 
transitions  from  the  dusk  of  wooded  alleys  to  open 
flowery  spaces  or  to  the  level  sward  of  the  bowling- 

I  I 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

green.  He  should  remember  that  the  terraces  and 
formal  gardens  adjoined  the  house,  that  the  ilex  or 
laurel  walks  beyond  were  clipped  into  shape  to  effect  a 
transition  between  the  straight  lines  of  masonry  and  the 
untrimmed  growth  of  the  woodland  to  which  they  led, 
and  that  each  step  away  from  architecture  was  a  nearer 
approach  to  nature. 

The  cult  of  the  Italian  garden  has  spread  from  Eng- 
land to  America,  and  there  is  a  general  feeling  that,  by 
placing  a  marble  bench  here  and  a  sun-dial  there,  Italian 
"effects"  may  be  achieved.  The  results  produced, 
even  where  much  money  and  thought  have  been  ex- 
pended, are  not  altogether  satisfactory  ;  and  some  critics 
have  thence  inferred  that  the  Italian  garden  is,  so  to 
speak,  untranslatable,  that  it  cannot  be  adequately  ren- 
dered in  another  landscape  and  another  age. 

Certain  effects,  those  which  depend  on  architectural 
grandeur  as  well  as  those  due  to  colouring  and  age,  are 
no  doubt  unattainable  ;  but  there  is,  none  the  less,  much 
to  be  learned  from  the  old  Italian  gardens,  and  the  first 
lesson  is  that,  if  they  are  to  be  a  real  inspiration,  they 
must  be  copied,  not  in  the  letter  but  in  the  spirit.  That 
is,  a  marble  sarcophagus  and  a  dozen  twisted  columns 
will  not  make  an  Italian  garden ;  but  a  piece  of  ground 
laid  out  and  planted  on  the  principles  of  the  old  garden- 
craft  will  be,  not  indeed  an  Italian  garden  in  the  literal 
sense,  but,  what  is  far  better,  a  garden  as  ivcll  adapted 
to  its  surroundings  as  ivere  the  models  wliieh  inspired  it. 

1  2 


ITALIAN    GARDEN-MAGIC 

This  is  the  secret  to  be  learned  from  the  villas  of 
Italy ;  and  no  one  who  has  looked  at  them  with  this 
object  in  view  will  be  content  to  relapse  into  vague  ad- 
miration of  their  loveliness.  As  Brownmg,  in  passing 
Cape  St.  Vincent  and  Trafalgar  Bay,  cried  out : 

"  Here  and  here  did  England  help  me:  how  can  I  help 
England  ?  "  —  say, 

SO  the  garden-lover,  who  longs  to  transfer  something 
of  the  old  garden-magic  to  his  own  patch  of  ground  at 
home,  will  ask  himself,  in  wandering  under  the  umbrella- 
pines  of  the  Villa  Borghese,  or  through  the  box-par- 
terres of  the  Villa  Lante :  What  can  I  bring  away  from 
here  ?  And  the  more  he  studies  and  compares,  the 
more  inevitably  will  the  answer  be:  "Not  this  or  that 
amputated  statue,  or  broken  bas-relief,  or  fragmentary 
effect  of  any  sort,  but  a  sense  of  the  informing  spirit  — 
an  understanding  of  the  gardener's  purpose,  and  of  the 
uses  to  which  he  meant  his  garden  to  be  put." 


13 


FLORENTINE    VILLAS 


FLORENTINE   VILLAS 

FOR  centuries  Florence  has  been  celebrated  for 
her  villa-clad  hills.  According  to  an  old  chron- 
icler, the  country  houses  were  more  splendid 
than  those  in  the  town,  and  stood  so  close-set  among 
their  olive-orchards  and  vineyards  that  the  traveller 
"thought  himself  in  Florence  three  leagues  before 
reaching  the  city." 

Many  of  these  houses  still  survive,  strongly  planted 
on  their  broad  terraces,  from  the  fifteenth-century  farm- 
house-villa, with  its  projecting  eaves  and  square  tower, 
to  the  many-windowed  maison  de  plaisance  in  which 
the  luxurious  nobles  of  the  seventeenth  century  spent 
the  gambling  and  chocolate-drinking  weeks  of  the  vin- 
tage season.  It  is  characteristic  of  Florentine  thrift  and 
conservatism  that  the  greater  number  of  these  later  and 
more  pretentious  villas  are  merely  additions  to  the  plain 
old  buildings,  while,  even  in  the  rare  cases  where  the 
whole  structure  is  new,  the  baroque  exuberance  which 
became  fashionable  in  the  seventeenth  century  is  tem- 
pered by  a  restraint  and  severity  peculiarly  Tuscan. 

So  numerous  and  well  preserved  are  the  buildings 

19 


n  A  L  I  A  N     \M  L  L  A  S 

of  this  order  about  Florence  that  the  student  who  should 
attempt  to  give  an  account  of  them  would  have  before 
him  a  long  and  laborious  undertaking ;  but  where  the 
villa  is  to  be  considered  in  relation  to  its  garden,  the 
task  is  reduced  to  narrow  limits.  There  is  perhaps  no 
region  of  Italy  so  rich  in  old  villas  and  so  lacking  in  old 


VILLA  CAMBERAIA,  AT  SETTICNANO,  NEAR  FLORENCE 

gardens  as  the  neighbourhood  of  Florence.  Various 
causes  have  brought  about  this  result.  The  environs 
of  Florence  have  always  been  frequented  by  the  wealthy 
classes,  not  only  Italian  but  foreign.  The  Tuscan 
nobility  have  usually  been  rich  enough  to  alter  their 
gardens   in   accordance  with   the  varying  horticultural 

20 


FLORENTINE    VILLAS 

fashions  imported  from  England  and  France ;  and  the 
Enghsh  who  have  colonized  in  such  numbers  the  slopes 
above  the  Arno  have  contributed  not  a  little  to  the 
destruction  of  the  old  gardens  by  introducing  into  their 
horticultural  plans  two  features  entirely  alien  to  the 
Tuscan  climate  and  soil,  namely,  lawns  and  deciduous 
shade-trees. 

Many  indeed  are  the  parterres  and  terraces  which 
have  disappeared  before  the  Britannic  craving  for  a 
lawn,  many  the  olive-orchards  and  vineyards  which 
must  have  given  way  to  the  thinly  dotted  "specimen 
trees  "  so  dear  to  the  English  landscape-gardener,  who 
is  still,  with  rare  exceptions,  the  slave  of  his  famous 
eighteenth-century  predecessors,  Repton  and  "  Capa- 
bility Brown,"  as  the  English  architect  is  still  the  de- 
scendant of  Pugin  and  the  Gothic  revival.  This 
Anglicization  of  the  Tuscan  garden  did  not,  of  course, 
come  only  from  direct  English  influence.  The  jardin 
mtglais  was  fashionable  in  France  when  Marie  Antoi- 
nette laid  out  the  Petit  Trianon,  and  Herr  Tuckermann, 
in  his  book  on  Italian  gardens,  propounds  a  theory,  for 
which  he  gives  no  very  clear  reasons,  to  the  effect  that 
the  naturalistic  school  of  gardening  actually  originated 
in  Italy,  in  the  Borghese  gardens  in  Rome,  which  he 
supposes  to  have  been  laid  out  more  or  less  in  their 
present  form  by  Giovanni  Fontana,  as  early  as  the  first 
quarter  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

It  is  certain,  at  any  rate,  that  the  Florentines  adopted 
21 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

the  new  fashion  early  in  the  nineteenth  century,  as  is 
shown — to  give  but  one  instance — in  the  vast  Torri- 
giani  gardens,  near  the  Porta  Romana,  laid  out  by  the 
Marchese  Torrigiani  about  1830  in  the  most  approved 
"landscape"  style,  with  an  almost  complete  neglect  of 
the  characteristic  Tuscan  vegetation  and  a  correspond- 
ing disregard  of  Italian  climate  and  habits.  The  large 
English  colony  has,  however,  undoubtedly  done  much 
to  encourage,  even  in  the  present  day,  the  alteration  of 
the  old  gardens  and  the  introduction  of  alien  vegetation 
in  those  which  have  been  partly  preserved.  It  is,  for 
instance,  typical  of  the  old  Tuscan  villa  that  the  farm, 
ox  podere,  should  come  up  to  the  edge  of  the  terrace  on 
which  the  house  stands ;  but  in  most  cases  where  old 
villas  have  been  bought  by  foreigners,  the  vineyards 
and  olive-orchards  near  the  house  have  been  turned 
into  lawns  dotted  with  plantations  of  exotic  trees. 
Under  these  circumstances  it  is  not  surprising  that  but 
few  unaltered  gardens  are  to  be  found  near  Florence. 
To  learn  what  the  old  Tuscan  garden  was,  one  must 
search  the  environs  of  the  smaller  towns,  and  there  are 
more  interesting  examples  about  Siena  than  in  the  whole 
circuit  of  the  Florentine  hills. 

The  old  Italian  architects  distinguished  two  classes 
of  country  houses :  the  villa  subitrbaiia,  or  niaisoii  de 
piaisance  (literally  the  pleasure-house),  standing  within 
or  just  without  the  city  walls,  surrounded  by  pleasure- 
grounds  and  built  for  a  few  weeks'  residence ;  and  the 


FLORENTINE    VILLAS 

country  house,  which  is  an  expansion  of  the  old  farm, 
and  stands  generally  farther  out  of  town,  among  its 
fields  and  vineyards — the  seat  of  the  country  gentleman 
living  on  his  estates.  The  Italian  pleasure-garden  did 
not  reach  its  full  development  till  the  middle  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  and  doubtless  many  of  the  old  Floren- 
tine villas,  the  semi-castle  and  the  quasi-farm  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  stood  as  they  do  now,  on  a  bare 
terrace  among  the  vines,  with  a  small  walled  enclosure 
for  the  cultivation  of  herbs  and  vegetables.  But  of  the 
period  in  which  the  garden  began  to  be  a  studied  archi- 
tectural extension  of  the  house,  few  examples  are  to  be 
found  near  Florence. 

The  most  important,  if  not  the  most  pleasing,  of 
Tuscan  pleasure-gardens  lies,  however,  within  the  city 
walls.  This  is  the  Boboli  garden,  laid  out  on  the  steep 
hillside  behind  the  Pitti  Palace.  The  plan  of  the  BoboH 
garden  is  not  only  magnificent  in  itself,  but  interesting 
as  one  of  the  rare  examples,  in  Tuscany,  of  a  Renais- 
sance garden  still  undisturbed  in  its  main  outlines. 
Eleonora  de'  Medici,  who  purchased  the  Pitti  Palace  in 
1549,  soon  afterward  acquired  the  neighbouring  ground, 
and  the  garden  was  laid  out  by  II  Tribolo,  continued  by 
Buontalenti,  and  completed  by  Bartolommeo  Ammanati, 
to  whom  is  also  due  the  garden  fa9ade  of  the  palace. 
The  scheme  of  the  garden  is  worthy  of  careful  study, 
though  in  many  respects  the  effect  it  now  produces  is 
far  less  impressive  than  its  designers  intended.      Prob- 

25 


riALlAN     \1LLAS 

ably  no  grounds  of  equal  grandeur  and  extent  have  less 
of  that  peculiar  magic  which  one  associates  with  the  old 
Italian  garden — a  fact  doubtless  due  less  to  defects  of 
composition  than  to  later  changes  in  the  details  of  plant- 
ing and  decoration.  Still,  the  main  outline  remains  and 
is  full  of  instruction  to  the  garden-lover. 

The  palace  is  built  against  the  steep  hillside,  which 
is  dug  out  to  receive  it,  a  high  retaining-wall  being  built 
far  enough  back  from  the  central  body  of  the  house  to 
allow  the  latter  to  stand  free.  The  ground  floor  of  the 
palace  is  so  far  below  ground  that  its  windows  look 
across  a  paved  court  at  the  face  of  the  retaining-wall, 
which  Ammanati  decorated  with  an  architectural  com- 
position representing  a  grotto,  from  which  water  was 
meant  to  gush  as  though  issuing  from  the  hillside.  This 
grotto  he  surmounted  with  a  magnificent  fountain,  stand- 
ing on  a  level  with  the  first-floor  windows  of  the  palace 
and  with  the  surrounding  gardens.  The  arrangement 
shows  ingenuity  in  overcoming  a  technical  difiiculty, 
and  the  effect,  from  the  garden,  is  very  successful, 
though  the  well-like  court  makes  an  unfortunate  gap 
between  the  house  and  its  grounds. 

Behind  the  fountain,  and  in  a  line  with  it,  a  horseshoe- 
shaped  amphitheatre  has  been  cut  out  of  the  hillside, 
surrounded  by  tiers  of  stone  seats  adorned  with  statues 
in  niches  and  backed  by  clipped  laurel  hedges,  behind 
which  rise  the  ilex-clad  slopes  of  the  upper  gardens. 
This  amphitheatre  is   one  of  the  triumphs  of  Italian 

J') 


FLORENTINE    VILLAS 

garden-architecture.  In  general  design  and  detail  it 
belongs  to  the  pure  Renaissance,  without  trace  of  the 
heavy  and  fantastic  barrochismo  which,  half  a  century 
later,  began  to  disfigure  such  compositions  in  the  villas 
near  Rome.  Indeed,  comparison  with  the  grotesque 
garden-architecture  of  the  Villa  d'Este  at  Tivoli,  which 
is  but  little  later  in  date,  shows  how  long  the  Tuscan 
sense  of  proportion  and  refinement  of  taste  resisted  the 
ever-growing  desire  to  astonish  instead  of  charming  the 
spectator. 

On  each  side  of  the  amphitheatre,  clipped  ilex-walks 
climb  the  hill,  coming  out  some  distance  above  on  a 
plateau  containing  the  toy  lake  with  its  little  island,  the 
Isola  Bella,  which  was  once  the  pride  of  the  Boboli 
garden.  This  portion  of  the  grounds  has  been  so 
stripped  of  its  architectural  adornments  and  of  its  sur- 
rounding vegetation  that  it  is  now  merely  forlorn  ;  and 
the  same  may  be  said  of  the  little  upper  garden,  reached 
by  an  imposing  flight  of  steps  and  commanding  a  wide 
view  over  Florence.  One  must  revert  to  the  architect's 
plan  to  see  how  admirably  adapted  it  was  to  the  difficul- 
ties of  the  site  he  had  to  deal  with,  and  how  skilfully  he 
harmonized  the  dense  shade  of  his  ilex-groves  with  the 
great  open  spaces  and  pompous  architectural  effects 
necessary  in  a  garden  which  was  to  form  a  worthy  set- 
ting for  the  pageants  of  a  Renaissance  court.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  in  this  connection  that  the  flower- 
garden,  or  giardiiw  segreto,  which  in  Renaissance  gar- 

29 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

dens  almost  invariably  adjoins  the  house,  has  here  been 
relegated  to  the  hilltop,  doubtless  because  the  only  level 
space  near  the  palace  was  required  for  state  ceremonials 
and  theatrical  entertainments  rather  than  for  private 
enjoyment. 

It  is  partly  because  the  Boboli  is  a  court-garden,  and 
not  designed  for  private  use,  that  it  is  less  interesting 
and  instructive  than  many  others  of  less  importance. 
Yet  the  other  Medicean  villas  near  Florence,  though 
designed  on  much  simpler  lines,  have  the  same  lack  of 
personal  charm.  It  is  perhaps  owing  to  the  fact  that 
Florence  was  so  long  under  the  dominion  of  one  all- 
powerful  family  that  there  is  so  little  variety  in  her 
pleasure-houses.  Pratolino,  Poggio  a  Caiano,  Cafag- 
giuolo,  Careggi,  Castello  and  Petraia,  one  and  all, 
whatever  their  origin,  soon  passed  into  the  possessor- 
ship  of  the  Medici,  and  thence  into  that  of  the  Austrian 
grand  dukes  who  succeeded  them ;  and  of  the  three 
whose  gardens  have  been  partly  preserved,  Castello, 
Petraia  and  Poggio  Imperiale,  it  may  be  said  that  they 
have  the  same  impersonal  official  look  as  the  Boboli. 

Castello  and  Petraia,  situated  a  mile  apart  beyond  the 
village  of  Quarto,  were  both  built  by  Buontalenti,  that 
brilliant  pupil  of  Ammanati's  who  had  a  share  in  the 
planning  of  the  gardens  behind  the  Pitti.  Castello 
stands  on  level  ground,  and  its  severely  plain  facade, 
with  windows  on  consoles  and  rusticated  doorway,  faces 
what  is  now  a  highway,  though,  according  to  the  print 

3^ 


FLORENTINE    VILLAS 

of  Zocchi,  the  eighteenth-century  engraver,  a  semicir- 
cular space  enclosed  in  a  low  wall  once  extended  be- 
tween the  house  and  the  road,  as  at  the  neighbouring 
Villa  Corsini  and  at  Poggio  Imperiale.  It  was  an  ad- 
mirable rule  of  the  old  Italian  architects,  where  the 
garden -space  was  small  and  where  the  site  permitted, 
to  build  their  villas  facing  the  road,  so  that  the  full  ex- 
tent of  the  grounds  was  secured  to  the  private  use  of 
the  inmates,  instead  of  being  laid  open  by  a  public  ap- 
proach to  the  house.  This  rule  is  still  followed  by 
French  villa-architects,  and  it  is  exceptional  in  France 
to  see  a  villa  entered  from  its  grounds  when  it  may  be 
approached  directly  from  the  highroad. 

Behind  Castello  the  ground  rises  in  terraces,  enclosed 
in  lateral  walls,  to  a  high  retaining-wall  at  the  back, 
surmounted  by  a  wood  of  ilexes  which  contains  a  pool 
with  an  island.  Montaigne,  who  describes  but  few 
gardens  in  his  Italian  diary,  mentions  that  the  terraces 
of  Castello  are  en  pante  (sic) ;  that  is,  they  incline  gradu- 
ally toward  the  house,  with  the  slope  of  the  ground. 
This  bold  and  unusual  adaptation  of  formal  gardening 
to  the  natural  exigencies  of  the  site  is  also  seen  in  the 
terraced  gardens  of  the  beautiful  Villa  Imperiali  (now 
Scassi)  at  Sampierdarena,  near  Genoa.  The  plan  of 
the  garden  at  Castello  is  admirable,  but  in  detail  it  has 
been  modernized  at  the  cost  of  all  its  charm.  Wide 
steps  lead  up  to  the  first  terrace,  where  II  Tribolo's 
stately  fountain  of  bronze  and  marble  stands  surrounded 


J'JWLI  AN      VILI.AS 

by  marble  benches  and  statues  on  fine  rusticated  ped- 
estals. Unhappily,  fountain  and  statues  have  lately 
been  scrubbed  to  preternatural  whiteness,  and  the  same 
spirit  of  improvement  has  turned  the  old  parterres  into 
sunburnt  turf,  and  dotted  it  with  copper  beeches  and 
pampas-grass.  Montaigne  alludes  to  the  berceaiix,  or 
pleached  walks,  and  to  the  close-set  cypresses  which 
made  a  delicious  coolness  in  this  garden ;  and  as  one 
looks  across  its  sun-scorched  expanse  one  perceives  that 
its  lack  of  charm  is  explained  by  lack  of  shade. 

As  is  usual  in  Italian  gardens  built  against  a  hillside, 
the  retaining-wall  at  the  back  serves  for  the  great  dec- 
orative motive  at  Castello.  It  is  reached  by  w^ide 
marble  steps,  and  flanked  at  the  sides  by  symmetrical 
lemon-houses.  On  the  central  axis  of  the  garden,  the 
wall  has  a  wide  opening  between  columns,  and  on  each 
side  an  arched  recess,  equidistant  between  the  lemon- 
houses  and  the  central  opening.  Within  the  latter  is 
one  of  those  huge  grottoes'  which  for  two  centuries  or 
more  were  the  delight  of  Italian  garden-architects. 
The  roof  is  decorated  with  masks  and  arabesques  in 
coloured  shell-work,  and  in  the  niches  of  the  tufa  of 
which  the  background  is  formed  are  strange  groups  of 
life-sized  animals,  a  camel,  a  monkey,  a  stag  with  real 
antlers,  a  wild  boar  with  real  tusks,  and  various  small 
animals  and  birds,  some  made  of  coloured  marbles  which 
correspond  with  their  natural  tints  ;  while  beneath  these 

'  This  grotto  and  its  sculptures  are  the  work  of  11  Tribolo,  who  also  built 
the   aqueduct   bringing  thither  the  waters   of  the  Amo   and   the  Mugnone. 

34 


FLORENTINE    VILLAS 

groups  are  basins  of  pink-and-white  marble,  carved 
with  sea-creatures  and  resting  on  dolphins.  Humour  is 
the  quality  which  soonest  loses  its  savour,  and  it  is  often 
difficult  to  understand  the  grotesque  side  of  the  old  gar- 
den-architecture ;  but  the  curious  delight  in  the  repre- 
sentations of  animals,  real  or  fantastic,  probably  arose 
from  the  general  interest  in  those  strange  wild  beasts 
of  which  the  travellers  of  the  Renaissance  brought  home 
such  fabulous  descriptions.  As  to  the  general  use  of 
the  grotto  in  Italian  gardens,  it  is  a  natural  develop- 
ment of  the  need  for  shade  and  coolness,  and  when  the 
long-disused  waterworks  were  playing,  and  cool  streams 
gushed  over  quivering  beds  of  fern  into  the  marble 
tanks,  these  retreats  must  have  formed  a  delicious  con- 
trast to  the  outer  glare  of  the  garden. 

At  Petraia  the  gardens  are  less  elaborate  in  plan  than 
at  Castello,  and  are,  in  fact,  noted  chiefly  for  a  fountain 
brought  from  that  villa.  This  fountain,  the  most  beau- 
tiful of  II  Tribolo's  works,  is  surmounted  by  the  famous 
Venus-like  figure  of  a  woman  wringing  out  her  hair, 
now  generally  attributed  to  Giovanni  da  Bologna.  Like 
the  other  Florentine  villas  of  this  quarter,  where  water 
is  more  abundant,  Petraia  has  a  great  oblong  vasca,  or 
tank,  beneath  its  upper  terrace ;  while  the  house  itself, 
a  simple  structure  of  the  old-fashioned  Tuscan  type, 
built  about  an  inner  quadrangle,  is  remarkable  for  its  very 
beautiful  tower,  which,  as  Herr  Gurlitt'  suggests,  was 
doubtless  inspired  by  the  tower  of  the  Palazzo  Vecchio. 

'"  Geschichte  des  Barockstils  in  Italien." 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

According  to  Zocchi's  charming  etching,  the  ducal 
villa  of  Poggio  Imperiale,  on  a  hillside  to  the  south  of 
Florence,  still  preserved,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  its 
simple  and  characteristic  Tuscan  fagade.  This  was 
concealed  by  the  Grand  Duke  Peter  Leopold  behind  a 
heavy  pillared  front,  to  which  the  rusticated  porticoes 
were  added  later ;  and  externally  nothing  remains  as  it 
was  save  the  ilex  and  cypress  avenue,  now  a  public 
highway,  which  ascends  to  the  villa  from  the  Porta 
Romana,  and  the  semicircular  entrance-court  with  its 
guardian  statues  on  mighty  pedestals. 

Poggio  Imperiale  was  for  too  long  the  favourite  resi- 
dence of  the  grand-ducal  Medici,  and  of  their  successors 
of  Lorraine,  not  to  suffer  many  changes,  and  to  lose, 
one  by  one,  all  its  most  typical  features.  Within  there 
is  a  fine  court  surrounded  by  an  open  arcade,  probably 
due  to  Giulio  Parigi,  who,  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  completed  the  alterations  of  the  villa  according 
to  the  plans  of  Giuliano  da  Sangallo;  and  the  vast  suites 
of  rooms  are  interesting  to  the  student  of  decoration, 
since  they  are  adorned,  probably  by  French  artists,  with 
exquisite  carvings  and  stiicchi  of  the  Louis  XY  and 
Louis  XVI  periods.  But  the  grounds  have  kept  little 
besides  their  general  plan.  At  the  back,  the  villa  opens 
directly  on  a  large  level  pleasure-garden,  with  enclosing 
walls  and  a  central  basin  surrounded  by  statues ;  but 
the  geometrical  parterres  have  been  turned  into  a  lawn. 
To  the  right  of  this  level  space,  a  few  steps  lead  down 

3^ 


GAMBERAIA 


FLORENTINE    VILLAS 

to  a  long  terrace  planted  with  ilexes,  whence  there  is  a 
fine  view  over  Florence — an  unusual  arrangement,  as 
the  bosco  was  generally  above,  not  below,  the  flower- 
garden. 

If,  owing  to  circumstances,  the  more  famous  pleasure- 
grounds  of  Florence  have  lost  much  of  their  antique 
charm,  she  has  happily  preserved  a  garden  of  another 
sort  which  possesses  to  an  unusual  degree  the  flavour  of 
the  past.  This  is  the  villa  of  the  Gamberaia  at  Setti- 
gnano.  Till  its  recent  purchase,  the  Gamberaia  had  for 
many  years  been  let  out  in  lodgings  for  the  summer, 
and  it  doubtless  owes  to  this  obscure  fate  the  complete 
preservation  of  its  garden-plan.  Before  the  recent  alter- 
ations made  in  its  gardens,  it  was  doubly  interesting 
from  its  unchanged  condition,  and  from  the  fact  that, 
even  in  Italy,  where  small  and  irregular  pieces  of  ground 
were  so  often  utilized  with  marvellous  skill,  it  was  prob- 
ably the  most  perfect  example  of  the  art  of  producing  a 
great  effect  on  a  small  scale. 

The  villa  stands  nobly  on  a  ridge  overlooking  the 
village  of  Settignano  and  the  wide-spread  valley  of  the 
Arno.  The  house  is  small  yet  impressive.  Though 
presumably  built  as  late  as  1610,  it  shows  few  conces- 
sions to  the  baroque  style  already  prevalent  in  other 
parts  of  Italy,  and  is  yet  equally  removed  from  the 
classic  or  Palladian  manner  which  held  its  own  so  long 
in  the  Venetian  country.     The  Gamberaia  is  distinctly 

Tuscan,  and  its  projecting  eaves,  heavily  coigned  angles 
4 

41 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

and  windows  set  far  apart  on  massive  consoles,  show  its 
direct  descent  from  the  severe  and  sober  school  of  six- 
teenth-century architects  who  produced  such  noble 
examples  of  the  great  Tuscan  villa  as  I  Collazzi  and 
Fonte  air  Erta.  Nevertheless,  so  well  proportioned  is 
its  elevation  that  there  is  no  sense  of  heaviness,  and  the 
solidity  of  the  main  building  is  relieved  by  a  kind  of 
flying  arcade  at  each  end,  one  of  which  connects  the 
house  with  its  chapel,  while  the  other,  by  means  of  a 
spiral  stairway  in  a  pier  of  the  arcade,  leads  from  the 
first  floor  to  what  was  once  the  old  fish-pond  and  herb- 
garden.  This  garden,  an  oblong  piece  of  ground,  a 
few  years  ago  had  in  its  centre  a  round  fish-pond,  sur- 
rounded by  symmetrical  plots  planted  with  roses  and 
vegetables,  and  in  general  design  had  probably  been 
little  changed  since  the  construction  of  the  villa.  It  has 
now  been  remodelled  on  an  elaborate  plan,  which  has  the 
disadvantage  of  being  unrelated  in  style  to  its  surround- 
ings ;  but  fortunately  no  other  change  has  been  made  in 
the  plan  and  planting  of  the  grounds. 

Before  the  fa9adc  of  the  house  a  grassy  terrace 
bounded  by  a  low  wall,  set  alternately  with  stone  vases 
and  solemn-looking  stone  dogs,  overhangs  the  vine- 
yards and  fields,  which,  as  in  all  unaltered  Tuscan 
country  places,  come  up  close  to  the  house.  Behind 
the  villa,  and  running  parallel  with  it,  is  a  long  grass 
alley  or  bowling-green,  flanked  for  part  of  its  length  by 
a  lofty   retaining-wall    set   with    statues,   and    for   the 

42 


FLORENTINE    VILLAS 

remainder  by  high  hedges  which  divide  it  on  one  side 
from  the  fish-pond  garden  and  on  the  other  fi-om  the 
farm.  The  green  is  closed  at  one  end  by  a  grotto  of 
coloured  pebbles  and  shells,  with  nymphs  and  shepherds 
in  niches  about  a  fountain.  This  grotto  is  overhung  by 
the  grove  of  ancient  cypresses  for  which  the  Gamberaia 
is  noted.  At  its  opposite  end  the  bowling-green  termi- 
nates in  a  balustrade  whence  one  looks  down  on  the 
Arno  and  across  to  the  hills  on  the  southern  side  of  the 
valley. 

The  retaining-wall  which  runs  parallel  with  the  back 
of  the  house  sustains  a  terrace  planted  with  cypress  and 
ilex.  This  terraced  wood  above  the  house  is  very 
typical  of  Italian  gardens :  good  examples  may  be  seen 
at  Castello  and  at  the  Villa  Medici  in  Rome.  These 
patches  of  shade,  however  small,  are  planted  irregularly, 
like  a  wild  wood,  with  stone  seats  under  the  dense  ilex 
boughs,  and  a  statue  placed  here  and  there  in  a  deep 
niche  of  foliage.  Just  opposite  the  central  doorway  of 
the  house  the  retaining-wall  is  broken,  and  an  iron  gate 
leads  to  a  slit  of  a  garden,  hardly  more  than  twenty  feet 
wide,  on  a  level  with  the  bowling-green.  This  narrow 
strip  ends  also  in  a  grotto-like  fountain  with  statues, 
and  on  each  side  balustraded  flights  of  steps  lead  to  the 
upper  level  on  which  the  ilex-grove  is  planted.  This 
grove,  however,  occupies  only  one  portion  of  the  terrace. 
On  the  other  side  of  the  cleft  formed  by  the  little  grotto- 
garden,  the  corresponding  terrace,  formerly  laid  out  as 

45 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

a  vegetable-garden,  is  backed  by  the  low  fagade  of  the 
lemon-house,  or  stanzonc,  which  is  an  adjunct  of  every 
Italian  villa.  Here  the  lemon  and  orange  trees,  the 
camellias  and  other  semi-tender  shrubs,  are  stored  in 
winter,  to  be  set  out  in  May  in  their  red  earthen  jars  on 
the  stone  slabs  which  border  the  walks  of  all  old  Italian 
gardens. 

The  plan  of  the  Gamberaia  has  been  described  thus 
in  detail  because  it  combines  in  an  astonishingly  small 
space,  yet  without  the  least  sense  of  overcrowding, 
almost  every  typical  excellence  of  the  old  Italian  garden: 
free  circulation  of  sunlight  and  air  about  the  house ; 
abundance  of  water ;  easy  access  to  dense  shade  ;  shel- 
tered walks  with  different  points  of  view ;  variety  of 
effect  produced  by  the  skilful  use  of  different  levels ; 
and,  finally,  breadth  and  simplicity  of  composition. 

Here,  also,  may  be  noted  in  its  fullest  expression  that 
principle  of  old  gardening  which  the  modern  "  land- 
scapist "  has  most  completely  unlearned,  namely,  the 
value  of  subdivision  of  spaces.  Whereas  the  modern 
gardener's  one  idea  of  producing  an  effect  of  space  is  to 
annihilate  his  boundaries,  and  not  only  to  merge  into 
one  another  the  necessary  divisions  of  the  garden,  but 
also  to  blend  this  vague  whole  with  the  landscape,  the 
old  garden-architect  proceeded  on  the  opposite  principle, 
arguing  that,  as  the  garden  is  but  the  prolongation  of 
the  house,  and  as  a  house  containing  a  single  huge 
room  would  be  less  interesting  and  less  serviceable  than 

46 


FLORENTINE    VILLAS 

one  divided  according  to  the  varied  requirements  of  its 
inmates,  so  a  garden  which  is  merely  one  huge  outdoor 
room  is  also  less  interesting  and  less  serviceable  than 
one  which  has  its  logical  divisions.  Utility  was  doubt- 
less not  the  only  consideration  which  produced  this 
careful  portioning  off  of  the  garden.  Esthetic  im- 
pressions were  considered,  and  the  effect  of  passing 
from  the  sunny  fruit-garden  to  the  dense  grove,  thence 
to  the  wide-reaching  view,  and  again  to  the  sheltered 
privacy  of  the  pleached  walk  or  the  mossy  coolness  of 
the  grotto — all  this  was  taken  into  account  by  a  race  of 
artists  who  studied  the  contrast  of  aesthetic  emotions  as 
keenly  as  they  did  the  juxtaposition  of  dark  cypress  and 
pale  lemon-tree,  of  deep  shade  and  level  sunlight.  But 
the  real  value  of  the  old  Italian  garden-plan  is  that  logic 
and  beauty  meet  in  it,  as  they  should  in  all  sound 
architectural  work.  Each  quarter  of  the  garden  was 
placed  where  convenience  required,  and  was  made 
accessible  from  all  the  others  by  the  most  direct  and 
rational  means ;  and  from  this  intelligent  method  of 
planning  the  most  varying  effects  of  unexpectedness 
and  beauty  were  obtained. 

It  was  said  above  that  lawns  are  unsuited  to  the 
Italian  soil  and  climate,  but  it  must  not  be  thought  that 
the  Italian  gardeners  did  not  appreciate  the  value  of 
turf.  They  used  it,  but  sparingly,  knowing  that  it  re- 
quired great  care  and  was  not  a  characteristic  of  the 
soil.     The  bowling-green  of  the  Gamberaia  shows  how 

47 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

well  the  beauty  of  a  long  stretch  of  greensward  was 
understood ;  and  at  the  Villa  Capponi,  at  Arcetri,  on 
the  other  side  of  Florence,  there  is  a  fine  oblong  of  old 
turf  adjoining  the  house,  said  to  be  the  only  surviving 
fragment  of  the  original  garden.  These  bits  of  sward 
were  always  used  near  the  house,  where  their  full  value 
could  be  enjoyed,  and  were  set  like  jewels  in  clipped 
hedges  or  statue-crowned  walls.  Though  doubtless 
intended  chiefly  for  games,  they  were  certainly  valued 
for  their  aesthetic  effect,  for  in  many  Italian  gardens 
steep  grass  alleys  flanked  by  walls  of  beech  or  ilex  are 
seen  ascending  a  hillside  to  the  temple  or  statue  which 
forms  the  crowning  ornament  of  the  grounds.  In 
Florence  a  good  example  of  this  tapis  vert,  of  which 
Le  Notre  afterward  made  such  admirable  use  in  the 
moist  climate  of  France,  is  seen  at  the  Villa  Danti,  on 
the  Arno  near  Campiobbi. 

Close  to  the  ducal  villas  of  Castello  lies  a  country- 
seat  possessing  much  of  the  intimate  charm  which  they 
lack.  This  is  Prince  Corsini's  villa,  the  finest  example 
of  a  baroque  country  house  near  Florence.  The  old 
villa,  of  which  the  typical  Tuscan  elevation  may  still  be 
seen  at  the  back,  was  remodelled  during  the  latter  half 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  probably  by  Antonio  Ferri, 
who  built  the  state  saloon  and  staircase  of  the  Palazzo 
Corsini  on  the  Lungarno.  The  Villa  Corsini  lies  in  the 
plain,  like  Castello,  and  has  before  it  the  usual  walled 
semicircle.     The  front  of  the  villa  is  frankly  baroque,  a 

43 


FLORENTINE    VILLAS 

two-storied  elevation  with  windows  divided  by  a  meagre 
order,  and  a  stately  central  gable  flanked  by  balustrades 
surmounted  by  vases.  The  whole  treatment  is  inter- 
esting, as  showing  the  manner  in  which  the  seventeenth- 
century  architect  overlaid  a  plain  Tuscan  structure  with 
florid  ornament ;  and  the  effect,  if  open  to  criticism,  is 
at  once  gay  and  stately. 

The  house  is  built  about  a  quadrangle  enclosed  in  an 
open  arcade  on  columns.  Opposite  the  porte-cochere 
is  a  doorway  opening  on  a  broad  space  bounded  by  a 
balustrade  with  statues.  An  ilex  avenue  extends  be- 
yond this  space,  on  the  axis  of  the  doorway.  At  one 
end  of  the  house  is  the  oblong  walled  garden,  with  its 
box-edged  flower-beds  grouped  in  an  intricate  geomet- 
rical pattern  about  a  central  fountain.  Corresponding 
with  this  garden,  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  house,  is  a 
dense  ilex-grove  with  an  alley  leading  down  the  centre 
to  a  beautiful  fountain,  a  tank  surmounted  by  a  kind  of 
voluted  pediment,  into  which  the  water  falls  from  a 
large  ilex-shaded  tank  on  a  higher  level.  Here  again 
the  vineyards  and  olive-orchards  come  up  close  to  the 
formal  grounds,  the  ilex-grove  being  divided  from  the 
podere  by  a  line  of  cypresses  instead  of  a  wall. 

Not  far  from  the  Gamberaia,  on  the  hillside  of  San 
Gervasio,  stands  another  country  house  which  preserves 
only  faint  traces  of  its  old  gardens,  but  which,  architec- 
turally, is  too  interesting  to  be  overlooked.  This  is  the 
villa  of  Fonte  all'  Erta.     Originally  a  long  building  of 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

the  villa-farmhouse  order,  with  chapel,  offices  and  out- 
houses connected  with  the  main  house,  it  was  trans- 
formed in  the  sixteenth  century,  probably  by  Ammanati, 
into  one  of  the  stateliest  country  houses  near  Florence. 
A  splendid  rusticated  loggia,  approached  by  a  double 
flight  of  steps,  forms  an  angle  of  the  main  house,  and 
either  then  or  later  the  spacious  open  court,  around 
three  sides  of  which  the  villa  is  built,  was  roofed  over 
and  turned  into  a  great  central  saloon  like  those  of  the 
Venetian  and  Milanese  villas.  This  two-storied  saloon 
is  the  finest  and  most  appropriate  feature  of  the  interior 
planning  of  Italian  villas,  but  it  seems  never  to  have 
been  as  popular  in  Tuscany  as  it  was  farther  north  or 
south.  The  Tuscan  villas,  for  the  most  part,  are  smaller 
and  less  pretentious  in  style  than  those  erected  in  other 
parts  of  Italy,  and  only  in  exceptional  instances  did  the 
architect  free  himself  from  the  traditional  plan  of  the  old 
farmhouse-villa  around  its  open  court.  A  fine  example 
of  this  arcaded  court  may  be  seen  at  Petraia,  the  Medi- 
cean  villa  near  Castello.  At  Fonte  all'  Erta  the  former 
court  faced  toward  what  was  once  an  old  flower-garden, 
raised  a  few  feet  above  the  grass  terrace  which  runs 
the  length  of  the  fagade.  Behind  this  garden,  and 
adjoining  the  back  of  the  villa,  is  the  old  evergreen 
grove ;  but  the  formal  surroundings  of  the  house  have 
disappeared. 

The  most  splendid  and  stately  villa  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Florence  stands  among  the  hills  a  few  miles 


FLORENTINE    VILLAS 

beyond  the  Certosa  of  Val  d'Ema,  and  looks  from  its 
lofty  ridge  across  the  plain  toward  Pistoia  and  the 
Apennines.  This  villa,  called  Ai  Collazzi  (now  Bom- 
bicci),  from  the  wooded  hills  which  surround  it,  was 
built  for  the  Dini  family  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and, 
as  tradition  avers,  by  no  less  a  hand  than  Michelangelo's. 
He  is  known  to  have  been  a  close  friend  of  the  Dini, 
and  is  likely  to  have  worked  for  them ;  and  if,  as  some 
experts  think,  certain  details  of  the  design,  as  well  as  the 
actual  construction  of  the  villa,  are  due  to  Santi  di  Tito, 
it  is  impossible  not  to  feel  that  its  general  conception 
must  have  originated  with  a  greater  artist. 

The  Villa  Bombicci  has  in  fact  the  Michelangelesque 
quality :  the  austerity,  the  breadth,  the  peculiar  majesty 
which  he  imparted  to  his  slightest  creations.  The  house 
is  built  about  three  sides  of  a  raised  stone-flagged  ter- 
race, the  enclosing  elevation  consisting  of  a  two-storied 
open  arcade  roofed  by  widely  projecting  eaves.  The 
wings  are  solid,  with  the  exception  of  the  sides  toward 
the  arcade,  and  the  windows,  with  their  heavy  pedi- 
ments and  consoles,  are  set  far  apart  in  true  Tuscan 
fashion.  A  majestic  double  flight  of  steps,  flanked  by 
shield-bearing  lions,  leads  up  to  the  terrace  about  which 
the  house  is  built.  Within  is  a  high  central  saloon 
opening  at  the  back  on  a  stone  person,  with  another 
double  flight  of  steps  which  descend  in  a  curve  to  the 
garden.  On  this  side  of  the  house  there  is,  on  the  upper 
floor,  an  open  loggia  of  great  beauty,  consisting  of  three 

53 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

arches  divided  by  slender  coupled  shafts.  Very  fine, 
also,  is  the  arched  and  rusticated  doorway  surmounted 
by  a  stone  escutcheon. 

The  villa  is  approached  by  a  cypress  avenue  which 
leads  straight  to  the  open  space  before  the  house.  The 
ridge  on  which  the  latter  is  built  is  so  narrow,  and  the 
land  falls  away  so  rapidly,  that  there  could  never  have 
been  much  opportunity  for  the  development  of  garden- 
architecture  ;  but  though  all  is  now  Anglicized,  it  is  easy 
to  trace  the  original  plan :  in  front,  the  open  space  sup- 
ported by  a  high  retaining-wall,  on  one  side  of  the  house 
the  grove  of  cypress  and  ilex,  and  at  the  back,  where 
there  was  complete  privacy,  the  small  giardiuo  segreto, 
or  hedged  garden,  with  its  parterres,  benches  and 
statues. 

The  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  describe  the  Italian 
villa  in  relation  to  its  grounds,  and  many  villas  which 
have  lost  their  old  surroundings  must  therefore  be 
omitted ;  but  near  Florence  there  is  one  old  garden 
which  has  always  lacked  its  villa,  yet  which  cannot  be 
overlooked  in  a  study  of  Italian  garden-craft.  Even 
those  most  familiar  with  the  fascinations  of  Italian  gar- 
dens will  associate  a  peculiar  thrill  with  their  first  sight 
of  the  Villa'  Campi.  Laid  out  by  one  of  the  Pucci 
family,  probably  toward  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, it  lies  beyond  Lastra-Signa,  above  the  Arno,  about 

'Villa,  in  Italian,  signifies  not  the  house  alone,  but  the  house  and 
pleasure-grounds. 

54 


FLORENTINE    VILLAS 

ten  miles  from  F'lorence.  It  is  not  easy  to  reach,  for 
so  long  is  it  since  any  one  has  lived  in  the  melancholy 
vi/lino  of  Villa  Campi  that  even  in  the  streets  of  Lastra, 
the  little  walled  town  by  the  Arno,  a  guide  is  hard  to 
find.  But  at  last  one  is  told  to  follow  a  steep  country 
road  among  vines  and  olives,  past  two  or  three  charm- 
ing houses  buried  in  ilex-groves,  till  the  way  ends  in  a 
lane  which  leads  up  to  a  gateway  surmounted  by  statues. 
Ascending  thence  by  a  long  avenue  of  cypresses,  one 
reaches  the  level  hilltop  on  which  the  house  should  have 
stood.  Two  pavilions  connected  by  a  high  wall  face 
the  broad  open  terrace,  whence  there  is  a  far-spreading 
view  over  the  Arno  valley:  doubtless  the  main  building 
was  to  have  been  placed  between  them.  But  now  the 
place  lies  enveloped  in  a  mysterious  silence.  The  foot 
falls  noiselessly  on  the  grass  carpeting  of  the  alleys,  the 
water  is  hushed  in  pools  and  fountains,  and  broken 
statues  peer  out  startlingly  from  their  niches  of  undipped 
foliage.  From  the  open  space  in  front  of  the  pavilions, 
long  avenues  radiate,  descending  and  encircling  the 
hillside,  walled  with  cypress  and  ilex,  and  leading  to 
rond-points  set  with  groups  of  statuary,  and  to  balus- 
traded  terraces  overhanging  the  valley.  The  plan  is 
vast  and  complicated,  and  appears  to  have  embraced  the 
whole  hillside,  which,  contrary  to  the  usual  frugal  Tuscan 
plan,  was  to  have  been  converted  into  a  formal  park  with 
vistas,  quincunxes  and  fountains. 

Entering  a  gate  in  the  wall  between  the  pavilions, 

55 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

one  comes  on  the  terraced  flower-gardens,  and  here  the 
same  grandeur  of  conception  is  seen.  The  upper  ter- 
race preserves  traces  of  its  formal  parterres  and  box- 
hedges.  Thence  flights  of  steps  lead  down  to  a  long 
bowling-green  between  hedges,  like  that  at  the  Gambe- 
raia.  A  farther  descent  reveals  another  terrace-garden, 
with  clipped  hedges,  statues  and  fountains ;  and  thence 
sloping  alleys  radiate  down  to  stone-edged  pools  with 
reclining  river-gods  in  the  mysterious  shade  of  the  ilex- 
groves.  Statues  are  everywhere:  in  the  upper  gardens, 
nymphs,  satyrs,  shepherds,  and  the  cheerful  fauna  of 
the  open  pleasance ;  at  the  end  of  the  shadowy  glades, 
solemn  figures  of  Titanic  gods,  couched  above  their  pools 
or  reared  aloft  on  mighty  pedestals.  Even  the  opposite 
hillside  must  have  been  included  in  the  original  scheme 
of  this  vast  garden,  for  it  still  shows,  on  the  central  axis 
between  the  pavilions,  a  tapis  vert  between  cypresses, 
doubtless  intended  to  lead  up  to  some  great  stone  Her- 
cules under  a  crowning  arch. 

But  it  is  not  the  size  of  the  Campi  gardens  which 
makes  them  so  remarkable ;  it  is  the  subtle  beauty  of 
their  planning,  to  which  time  and  neglect  have  added  the 
requisite  touch  of  poetry.  Never  perhaps  have  natural 
advantages  been  utilized  with  so  little  perceptible  strain- 
ing after  effect,  yet  with  so  complete  a  sense  of  the 
needful  adjustment  between  landscape  and  architecture. 
One  feels  that  these  long  avenues  and  statued  terraces 
were  meant  to  lead  up  to  a  "stately  pleasure-house"; 

56 


FLORENTINE    VILLAS 

yet  so  little  are  they  out  of  harmony  with  the  surround- 
ing scene  that  nature  has  gradually  taken  them  back  to 
herself,  has  turned  them  into  a  haunted  grove  in  which 
the  statues  seem  like  sylvan  gods  fallen  asleep  in  their 
native  shade. 

There  are  other  Florentine  villas  which  preserve  traces 
of  their  old  gardens.  The  beautiful  Villa  Palmieri  has 
kept  its  terrace-architecture,  Lappeggi  its  fine  double 
stairway,  the  Villa  Danti  its  grass-walk  leading  to  a 
giant  on  the  hilltop,  and  Castel  Pulci  its  stately  fagade 
with  a  sky-line  of  statues  and  the  long  cypress  avenue 
shown  in  Zocchi's  print ;  even  Pratolino,  so  cruelly 
devastated,  still  preserves  Giovanni  da  Bologna's  colossal 
figure  of  the  Apennines.  But  where  so  much  of  greater 
value  remains  to  be  described,  space  fails  to  linger  over 
these  fragments  which,  romantic  and  charming  as  they 
are,  can  but  faintly  suggest,  amid  their  altered  surround- 
ings, the  vanished  garden-plans  of  which  they  formed  a 
part. 


57 


SIENESE    VILLAS 


II 

SIENESE   VILLAS 

IN  the  order  of  age,  the  first  country-seat  near  Siena 
which  claims  attention  is  the  fortress-villa  of  Bel- 
caro. 
Frequent  mention  is  made  of  the  castle  of  Belcaro  in 
early  chronicles  and  documents,  and  it  seems  to  have 
been  a  place  of  some  importance  as  far  back  as  the 
eleventh  century.  It  stands  on  a  hilltop  clothed  with 
oak  and  ilex  in  the  beautiful  wooded  country  to  the 
west  of  Siena,  and  from  its  ancient  walls  one  looks  forth 
over  the  plain  to  the  hill-set  city  and  its  distant  circle  of 
mountains.  It  was  perhaps  for  the  sake  of  this  enchant- 
ing prospect  that  Baldassare  Peruzzi,  to  whom  the  trans- 
formation of  Belcaro  is  ascribed,  left  these  crenellated 
walls  untouched,  and  contented  himself  with  adornino- 
the  inner  court  of  the  castle  with  a  delicate  mask  of 
Renaissance  architecture.  A  large  bare  villa  of  no 
architectural  pretensions  was  added  to  the  mediaeval 
buildings,  and  Peruzzi  worked  within  the  enclosed  quad- 
rangle thus  formed. 

A  handsome  architectural  screen  of  brick  and  marble 
with  a  central  gateway  leads  from  a  stone-paved  court 

63 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

to  a  garden  of  about  the  same  dimensions,  at  the  back 
of  which  is  an  arcaded  loggia,  also  of  brick  and  marble, 
exquisitely  light  and  graceful  in  proportion,  and  fres- 
coed in  the  Raphaelesque  manner  with  medallions  and 
arabesques,  fruit-garlands  and  brightly  plumed  birds. 
Adjoining  this  loggia  is  a  small  brick  chapel,  simple  but 
elegant  in  design,  with  a  frescoed  interior  also  ascribed 
to  Peruzzi,  and  still  beautiful  under  its  crude  repainting. 
The  garden  itself  is  the  real  hortus  iiiclusus  of  the 
mediseval  chronicler :  a  small  patch  of  ground  enclosed 
in  the  fortress  walls,  with  box-edged  plots,  a  central 
well  and  clipped  shrubs.  It  is  interesting  as  a  reminder 
of  what  the  mediaeval  garden  within  the  castle  must  have 
been,  and  its  setting  of  Renaissance  architecture  makes 
it  look  like  one  of  those  little  marble-walled  pleasances, 
full  of  fruit  and  flowers,  in  the  backgrounds  of  Gozzoli 
or  Lorenzo  di  Credi. 

Several  miles  beyond  Belcaro,  in  a  pleasant  valley 
among  oak-wooded  hills,  lies  the  Marchese  Chigi's 
estate  of  Cetinale.  A  huge  clipped  ilex,  one  of  the  few 
examples  of  Dutch  topiary  work  in  Italy,  stands  at  the 
angle  of  the  road  which  leads  to  the  gates.  Across  the 
highway,  facing  the  courtyard  entrance,  is  another  gate, 
guarded  by  statues  and  leading  to  a  long  tapis  vert 
which  ascends  between  double  rows  of  square-topped 
ilexes  to  a  statue  on  the  crest  of  the  opposite  slope. 
The  villa  looks  out  on  this  perspective,  facing  it  across 
an  oblong  courtyard  flanked  by  low  outbuildings.    The 

64 


SIENESE    VILLAS 

main  house,  said  to  have  been  built  (or  more  probably- 
rebuilt)  in  1680  by  Carlo  Fontana  for  Flavio  Chigi, 
nephew  of  Pope  Alexander  VII,  is  so  small  and  modest 
of  aspect  that  one  is  surprised  to  learn  that  it  was  one 
of  the  celebrated  pleasure-houses  of  its  day.  It  must 
be  remembered,  however,  that  with  the  exception  of  the 
great  houses  built  near  Rome  by  the  Princes  of  the 
Church,  and  the  country-seats  of  such  reigning  families 
as  the  Medici,  the  Italian  villa  was  almost  invariably  a 
small  and  simple  building,  the  noble  proprietor  having 
usually  preferred  to  devote  his  wealth  and  time  to  the 
embellishment  of  his  gardens. 

The  house  at  Cetinale  is  so  charming,  with  its  stately 
double  flight  of  steps  leading  up  to  the  first  floor,  and 
its  monumental  doorway  opening  on  a  central  salone, 
that  it  may  well  be  ascribed  to  the  architect  of  San 
Marcello  in  Rome,  and  of  Prince  Lichtenstein's  "Garden 
Palace"  in  Vienna.  The  plan  of  using  the  low-studded 
ground  floor  for  offices,  wine-cellar  and  store-rooms, 
while  the  living-rooms  are  all  above-stairs,  shows  the 
hand  of  an  architect  trained  in  the  Roman  school.  All 
the  Tuscan  and  mid-Italian  villas  open  on  a  level  with 
their  gardens,  while  about  Rome  the  country  houses,  at 
least  on  one  side,  have  beneath  the  living-rooms  a  ground 
floor  generally  used  for  the  storage  of  wine  and  oil. 

But  the  glory  of  Cetinale  is  its  park.  Behind  the 
villa  a  long  grass-walk  as  wide  as  the  house  extends 
between  high  walls  to  a  fantastic  gateway,  with  statues 

65 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

in  ivy-clad  niches,  and  a  curious  crowning  motive  ter- 
minating in  obelisks  and  balls.  Beyond  this  the  turf- 
walk  continues  again  to  a  raised  semicircular  terrace, 
surrounded  by  a  wall  adorned  w'ith  busts  and  enclosed 
in  clipped  ilexes.  This  terrace  abuts  on  the  ilex-clothed 
hillside  which  bounds  the  valley.  A  gateway  leads 
directly  into  these  wild  romantic  woods,  and  a  steep 
irregular  flight  of  stone  steps  is  seen  ascending  the 
wooded  slope  to  a  tiny  building  on  the  crest  of  the  hill. 
This  ascent  is  called  the  Scala  Santa,  and  the  building 
to  which  it  leads  is  a  hermitage  adorned  with  circular 
niches  set  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  each  niche  containing 
the  bust  of  a  saint.  The  hermitage  being  directly  on 
the  axis  of  the  villa,  one  looks  out  from  the  latter  down 
the  admirable  perspective  of  the  tapis  vert  and  up  the 
Scala  Santa  to  the  little  house  at  its  summit.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  note  that  this  effect  of  distance  and  grandeur 
is  produced  at  small  cost  and  in  the  simplest  manner ; 
for  the  grass-walk  with  its  semicircular  end  forms  the 
whole  extent  of  the  Cetinale  garden.  The  olive-orchards 
and  corn-fields  of  the  farm  come  up  to  the  boundary 
walls  of  the  walk,  and  the  wood  is  left  as  nature  planted 
it.  Fontana,  if  it  was  indeed  he  who  laid  out  this  simple 
but  admirable  plan,  was  wise  enough  to  profit  by  the 
natural  advantage  of  the  great  forest  of  oak  and  ilex 
which  clothes  this  part  of  the  country,  and  to  realize 
that  only  the  broadest  and  simplest  lines  would  be  in 
harmony  with  so  noble  a  background. 

66 


SIENESE    VILLAS 

As  charming  in  its  way,  though  less  romantic  and 
original,  is  the  Marchese  Chigi's  other  seat  of  Vicobello, 
a  mile  or  two  beyond  the  Porta  Ovile,  on  the  other  side 
of  Siena.  Vicobello  lies  in  an  open  villa-studded 
country  in  complete  contrast  to  the  wooded  hills  about 
Cetinale.  The  villa  is  placed  on  a  long  narrow  ridge 
of  land,  falling  away  abruptly  at  the  back  and  front.  A 
straight  entrance  avenue  runs  parallel  to  the  outer  walls 
of  the  outbuildings,  which  form  the  boundary  of  the 
court,  the  latter  being  entered  through  a  vaulted  porte- 
cochere.  Facing  this  entrance  (as  at  Cetinale)  is  a 
handsome  gateway  guarded  by  statues  and  set  in  a 
semicircular  wall.  Passing  through  this  gate,  one  de- 
scends to  a  series  of  terraces  planted  with  straight  rows 
of  the  square-topped  ilexes  so  characteristic  of  the 
Sienese  gardens.  These  densely  shaded  terraces  de- 
scend to  a  level  stretch  of  sward  (perhaps  an  old  bowl- 
ing-green) bordered  by  a  wall  of  clipped  ilexes,  at  the 
foot  of  the  hill  on  which  the  villa  stands. 

On  entering  the  forecourt,  one  faces  the  villa,  a  dig- 
nified oblong  building  of  simple  Renaissance  architec- 
ture, ascribed  in  the  local  guide-book  to  Baldassare 
Peruzzi,  and  certainly  of  earlier  construction  than  the 
house  at  Cetinale.  On  the  left,  a  gate  in  a  high  wall 
leads  to  a  walled  garden,  bounded  by  a  long  lemon- 
house  which  continues  the  line  of  the  outbuildings  on 
the  court.  Opposite,  a  corresponding  gateway  opens 
into  the  bosco  which  is  the  indispensable  adjunct  of  the 

69 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

Italian  country  house.  On  the  other  side  of  the  villa 
arc  two  long  terraces,  one  beneath  the  other,  corre- 
sponding in  dimensions  with  the  court,  and  flanked  on 
each  hand  by  walled  terrace-gardens,  descending  on 
one  side  from  the  grove,  on  the  other  from  the  upper 
garden  adjoining  the  court.  The  plan,  which  is  as 
elaborate  and  minutely  divided  as  that  of  Cetinale  is 
spacious  and  simple,  shows  an  equally  sure  appreciation 
of  natural  conditions,  and  of  the  distinction  betw^een  a 
villa  subiirbana  and  a  country  estate.  The  walls  of  the 
upper  garden  are  espaliered  with  fruit-trees,  and  the 
box-edged  flower-plots  are  probably  laid  out  much  as 
they  were  in  the  eighteenth  century.  All  the  architec- 
tural details  are  beautiful,  especially  a  Avell  in  the  court, 
set  in  the  wall  between  Ionic  columns,  and  a  charming 
garden-house  at  the  end  of  the  upper  garden,  in  the 
form  of  an  open  archway  faced  with  Doric  pilasters, 
before  a  semicircular  recess  with  a  marble  seat.  The 
descending  walled  gardens,  with  their  different  levels, 
give  opportunity  for  many  charming  architectural  effects 
—  busts  in  niches,  curving  steps,  and  well-placed  vases 
and  statues ;  and  the  whole  treatment  of  Vicobello  is 
remarkable  for  the  discretion  and  sureness  of  taste  with 
which  these  ornamental  touches  are  added.  There  is 
no  excess  of  decoration,  no  crowding  of  effects,  and  the 
garden-plan  is  in  perfect  keeping  with  the  simple  state- 
liness  of  the  house. 

About  a  mile  from  Vicobello,  on  an  olive-clad  hillside 

70 


SIENESE    VILLAS 

near  the  famous  monastery  of  the  Osservanza,  lies  an- 
other villa  of  much  more  modest  dimensions,  with 
grounds  which,  though  in  some  respects  typically 
Sienese,  are  in  one  way  unique  in  Italy.  This  is  La 
Palazzina,  the  estate  of  the  De'  Gori  family.  The  small 
seventeenth-century  house,  with  its  adjoining  chapel 
and  outbuildings,  lies  directly  on  the  public  road,  and 
forms  the  boundary  of  its  own  grounds.  The  charm- 
ing garden-fagade,  with  its  voluted  sky-line,  and  the 
two-storied  open  loggia  forming  the  central  motive 
of  the  elevation,  faces  on  a  terrace-like  open  space, 
bounded  by  a  wall,  and  now  irregularly  planted  d 
VAnglaise,  but  doubtless  once  the  site  of  the  old 
flower-garden.  Before  the  house  stands  an  old  well 
with  a  beautiful  wrought-iron  railing,  and  on  the  axis 
of  the  central  loggia  a  gate  opens  into  one  of  the 
pleached  ilex-alleys  which  are  the  glory  of  the  Palaz- 
zina. This  ancient  tunnel  of  gnarled  and  interlocked 
trees,  where  a  green  twilight  reigns  in  the  hottest  sum- 
mer noon,  extends  for  several  hundred  feet  along  a 
ridge  of  ground  ending  in  a  sort  of  circular  knoll  or 
platform,  surrounded  by  an  impenetrable  wall  of  square- 
clipped  ilexes.  The  platform  has  in  its  centre  a  round 
clearing,  from  which  four  narrow  paths  radiate  at  right 
angles,  one  abutting  on  the  pleached  walk,  the  others 
on  the  outer  ilex-wall.  Between  these  paths  are  four 
small  circular  spaces  planted  with  stunted  ilexes  and 
cypresses,  which  are  cut  down  to  the  height  of  shrubs. 

71 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

In  these  dwarf  trees  blinded  thrushes  are  tied  as  decoys 
to  their  wild  kin,  who  are  shot  at  from  the  circular 
clearing  or  the  side  paths.  This  elaborate  plantation  is 
a  perfectly  preserved  specimen  of  a  species  of  bird-trap 
once,  alas !  very  common  in  this  part  of  Italy,  and  in 
which  one  may  picture  the  young  gallants  of  Folgore 
da  San  Gimignano's  Sienese  sonnets  "  Of  the  Months" 
taking  their  cruel  pleasure  on  an  autumn  day. 

Another  antique  alley  of  pleached  ilexes,  as  densely 
shaded  but  not  quite  as  long,  runs  from  the  end  of  the 
terrace  to  a  small  open-air  theatre  w^hich  is  the  greatest 
curiosity  of  the  Villa  de'  Gori.  The  pit  of  this  theatre  is 
a  semicircular  opening,  bounded  by  a  low  wall  or  seat, 
which  is  backed  by  a  high  ilex-hedge.  The  parterre  is 
laid  out  in  an  elaborate  broderie  of  turf  and  gravel,  above 
which  the  stage  is  raised  about  three  feet.  The  pit  and 
the  stage  are  enclosed  in  a  double  hedge  of  ilex,  so  that 
the  actors  may  reach  the  wings  without  being  seen  by 
the  audience ;  but  the  stage-setting  consists  of  rows  of 
clipped  cypresses,  each  advancing  a  few  feet  beyond  the 
one  before  it,  so  that  they  form  a  perspective  running 
up  to  the  back  of  the  stage,  and  terminated  by  the  tall 
shaft  of  a  single  cypress  which  towers  high  into  the 
blue  in  the  exact  centre  of  the  background.  No  mere 
description  of  its  plan  can  convey  the  charm  of  this  ex- 
quisite little  theatre,  approached  through  the  mysterious 
dusk  of  the  long  pleached  alley,  and  lying  in  sunshine 
and  silence  under  its  roof  of  blue  sky,  in  its  walls  of 

—  ■) 


SIENESE     VILLAS 

unchanging  verdure.  Imagination  must  people  the 
stage  with  the  sylvan  figures  of  the  Aminta  or  the 
Pastor  Pido,  and  must  place  on  the  encircling  seats  a 
company  of  nobil  donne  in  pearls  and  satin,  with  their 
cavaliers  in  the  black  Spanish  habit  and  falling  lace 
collar  which  Vandyke  has  immortalized  in  his  Genoese 
portraits ;  and  the  remembrance  of  this  leafy  stage  will 
lend  new  life  to  the  reading  of  the  Italian  pastorals,  and 
throw  a  brighter  sunlight  over  the  woodland  comedies 
of  Shakspeare. 


75 


ROMAN    VILLAS 


Ill 

ROMAN    VILLAS 

IN  studying  the  villas  near  the  smaller  Italian  towns, 
it  is  difficult  to  learn  much  of  their  history.  Now 
and  then  some  information  may  be  gleaned  from 
a  local  guide-book,  but  the  facts  are  usually  meagre  or 
inaccurate,  and  the  name  of  the  architect,  the  date  of  the 
building,  the  original  plan  of  the  garden,  have  often  alike 
been  forgotten. 

With  regard  to  the  villas  in  and  about  Rome,  the  case 
is  different.  Here  the  student  is  overwhelmed  by  a 
profusion  of  documents.  Illustrious  architects  dispute 
the  honour  of  having  built  the  famous  pleasure-houses 
on  the  seven  hills,  and  historians  of  art,  from  Vasari 
downward,  have  recorded  their  annals.  Falda  engraved 
them  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  Percier  and  Fon- 
taine at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  ;  and  they  have 
been  visited  and  described,  at  various  periods,  by  count- 
less travellers  from  different  countries. 

One  of  the  earliest  Roman  gardens  of  which  a  descrip- 
tion has  been  preserved  is  that  which  Bramante  laid  out 
within  the  Vatican  in  the  last  years  of  the  fifteenth 
century.     This  terraced  garden,  with  its  monumental 

8l 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

double  flight  of  steps  leading  up  by  three  levels  to  the 
Giardino  della  Pigna,  was  described  in  1523  by  the 
Venetian  ambassador  to  Rome,  who  speaks  of  its  grass 
parterres  and  fountains,  its  hedges  of  laurel  and  cypress, 
its  plantations  of  mulberries  and  roses.  One  half  of  the 
garden  (the  court  of  the  Belvedere)  had  brick-paved 
walks  between  rows  of  orange-trees ;  in  its  centre  were 
statues  of  the  Nile  and  the  Tiber  above  a  fountain ;  while 
the  Apollo,  the  Laocoon  and  the  Venus  of  the  Vatican 
were  placed  about  it  in  niches.  This  garden  was  long 
since  sacrificed  to  the  building  of  the  Braccio  Nuovo 
and  the  Vatican  Library;  but  it  is  worth  mentioning 
that  Burckhardt,  whose  least  word  on  Italian  gardens  is 
more  illuminating  than  the  treatises  of  other  writers, 
thought  that  Bramante's  terraced  stairway  first  set  the 
example  of  that  architectural  magnificence  which  marks 
the  great  Roman  gardens  of  the  Renaissance. 

Next  in  date  comes  the  Villa  Madama,  Raphael's  un- 
finished masterpiece  on  the  slope  of  Monte  Mario.  This 
splendid  pleasure-house,  which  was  begun  in  15 16  for 
Cardinal  Giuliano  de'  Medici,  afterward  Pope  Clement 
VII,  was  intended  to  be  the  model  of  the  great  villa 
suburbana,  and  no  subsequent  building  of  the  sort  is 
comparable  to  what  it  would  have  been  had  the  original 
plans  been  carried  out.  But  the  villa  was  built  under 
an  evil  star.  Raphael  died  before  the  work  was  finished, 
and  it  was  carried  on  with  some  alterations  by  Giulio 
Romano  and  Antonio  da  Sangallo.     In  1527  the  troops 

^2 


ROMAN     VILLAS 

of  Cardinal  Colonna  nearly  destroyed  it  by  fire ;  and, 
without  ever  being  completed,  it  passed  successively  into 
thie  possession  of  the  Chapter  of  St.  Eustace,  of  the 
Duchess  of  Parma  (whence  its  name  of  Madama),  and 
of  the  King  of  Naples,  who  suffered  it  to  fall  into  com- 
plete neglect. 

The  unfinished  building,  with  its  mighty  loggia  stuc- 
coed by  Giovanni  da  Udine,  and  the  semicircular  arcade 
at  the  back,  is  too  familiar  to  need  detailed  description; 
and  the  gardens  are  so  dilapidated  that  they  are  of  in- 
terest only  to  an  eye  experienced  enough  to  reconstruct 
them  from  their  skeleton.  They  consist  of  two  long 
terraces,  one  above  the  other,  cut  in  the  side  of  the 
wooded  slope  overhanging  the  villa.  The  upper  terrace 
is  on  a  level  with  Raphael's  splendid  loggia,  and  seems 
but  a  roofless  continuation  of  that  airy  hall.  Against 
the  hillside  and  at  the  end  it  is  bounded  by  a  retaining- 
wall  once  surmounted  by  a  marble  balustrade  and  set 
with  niches  for  statuary,  while  on  the  other  side  it  looks 
forth  over  the  Tiber  and  the  Campagna.  Below  this 
terrace  is  another  of  the  same  proportions,  its  retaining- 
wall  broken  at  each  end  by  a  stairway  descending  from 
the  upper  level,  and  the  greater  part  of  its  surface  taken 
up  by  a  large  rectangular  tank,  into  which  water  gushes 
from  the  niches  in  the  lateral  wall.  It  is  evident  from 
the  breadth  of  treatment  of  these  terraces  that  they  are 
but  a  fragment  of  the  projected  whole.  Percier  and 
Fontaine,  in  their  "  Maisons  de   Plaisance  de  Rome" 

83 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

(1809),  published  an  interesting  "  reconstitution  "  of  the 
Villa  jMadama  and  its  gardens,  as  they  conceived  it 
might  have  been  carried  to  completion;  but  their  plan  is 
merely  the  brilliant  conjecture  of  two  artists  penetrated 
with  the  spirit  of  the  Renaissance,  for  they  had  no 
documents  to  go  by.  The  existing  fragment  is,  how- 
ever, well  worthy  of  study,  for  the  purity  of  its  archi- 
tecture and  the  broad  simplicity  of  its  plan  are  in  marked 
contrast  to  the  complicated  design  and  overcharged 
details  of  some  of  the  later  Roman  gardens. 

Third  in  date  among  the  early  Renaissance  gardens 
comes  another,  of  which  {e\v  traces  are  left :  that  of  the 
Vigna  del  Papa,  or  Villa  di  Papa  Giulio,  just  beyond  the 
Porta  del  Popolo.  Here,  however,  the  building  itself, 
and  the  architectural  composition  which  once  united  the 
house  and  grounds,  are  fortunately  well  preserved,  and 
so  exceptionally  interesting  that  they  deserved  a  careful 
description.  The  Villa  di  Papa  Giulio  was  built  by  Pope 
Julius  III,  whose  pontificate  extends  from  1550  to  1555. 
The  villa  therefore  dates  from  the  middle  of  the  six- 
teenth century  ;  but  so  many  architects  were  associated 
with  it,  and  so  much  confusion  exists  as  to  their  respec- 
tive contributions,  that  it  can  only  be  said  that  the  Pope 
himself,  Michelangelo,  Vignola,  Vasari  and  Amma- 
nati  appear  all  to  have  had  a  hand  in  the  work.  The 
exterior  elevation,  though  it  has  been  criticized,  is  not 
as  inharmonious  as  might  have  been  expected,  and  on 
the  garden  side  both  plan  and  elevation  have  a  charm 

84 


ROMAN    VILLAS 

and  picturesqueness  which  disarm  criticism.  Above  all, 
it  is  felt  at  once  that  the  arrangement  is  perfectly  suited 
to  a  warm  climate.  The  villa  forms  a  semicircle  at  the 
back,  enclosing  a  paved  court.  The  ground  floor  is  an 
open  vaulted  arcade,  adorned  with  Zucchero's  celebrated 
frescoes  of  pittti  peeping  through  vine-wreathed  trel- 
lises ;  and  the  sides  of  the  court,  beyond  this  arcade,  are 
bounded  by  two-storied  lateral  wings,  with  blind  arcades 
and  niches  adorned  with  statues.  Facing  the  villa,  a 
colonnaded  loggia  terminates  the  court ;  and  thence  one 
looks  down  into  the  beautiful  lower  court  of  the  bath, 
which  appears  to  have  been  designed  by  Vasari.  From 
the  loggia,  steps  descend  to  a  semicircular  court  enclosed 
in  walls,  with  a  balustraded  opening  in  its  centre ;  and 
this  balustrade  rests  on  a  row  of  caryatids  which  encircle 
the  lowest  court  and  form  a  screen  before  the  grotto-like 
bath  under  the  arches  of  the  upper  terrace.  The  plan  is 
too  complicated,  and  the  architectural  motives  are  too 
varied,  to  admit  of  clear  description  :  both  must  be  seen 
to  give  an  idea  of  the  full  beauty  of  the  composition. 
Returning  to  the  upper  loggia  above  the  bath,  one  looks 
across  the  latter  to  a  corresponding  loggia  of  three  arches 
on  the  opposite  side,  on  the  axis  of  which  is  a  gateway 
leading  to  the  actual  gardens  —  gardens  which,  alas  !  no 
longer  exist.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  flagged  court, 
the  two  open  loggias,  and  the  bath  are  so  many  skilfully 
graduated  steps  in  what  Percier  and  Fontaine  call  the 
"  artistic  progression  "  linking  the  gardens  to  the  house, 

85 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

while  the  whole  is  so  planned  that  from  the  central  hall 
of  the  villa  (and  in  fact  from  its  entrance-door)  one  may 
look  across  the  court  and  down  the  long  vista  of  columns, 
into  what  were  once  the  shady  depths  of  the  garden. 

In  all  Italian  garden-architecture  there  is  nothing 
quite  comparable  for  charm  and  delicately  reminiscent 
classicalism  with  this  grotto-bath  of  Pope  Julius's  villa. 
Here  we  find  the  tradition  of  the  old  Roman  villa-archi- 
tecture, as  it  had  been  lovingly  studied  in  the  letters 
of  Pliny,  transposed  into  Renaissance  forms,  with  the 
sense  of  its  continued  fitness  to  unchanged  conditions 
of  climate  and  a  conscious  return  to  the  splendour  of 
the  old  patrician  life.  It  is  instructive  to  compare  this 
natural  reflowering  of  a  national  art  with  the  frigid 
archaeological  classicalism  of  Winckelmann  and  Canova. 
Here  there  is  no  literal  transcription  of  uncompre- 
hended  detail:  the  spirit  is  preserved,  because  it  is  still 
living,  but  it  finds  expression  in  subtly  altered  forms. 
Above  all,  the  artist  has  drawn  his  inspiration  from 
Roman  art,  the  true  source  of  modern  architecture,  and 
not  from  that  of  Greece,  which,  for  all  its  beauty  and  far- 
reaching  aesthetic  influences,  was  not  the  starting-point 
of  modern  artistic  conceptions,  for  the  plain  historical 
reason  that  it  was  utterly  forgotten  and  unknown  when 
the  mediaeval  world  began  to  wake  from  its  lethargy 
and  gather  up  its  scattered  heritage  of  artistic  tradi- 
tions. 

When   John   Evelyn    came  to   Rome   in    1644   ^nd 

86 


ROMAN    VILLAS 

alighted  "at  Monsieur  Petit's  in  the  Piazza  Spagnola," 
many  of  the  great  Roman  villas  were  still  in  the  first 
fi-eshness  of  their  splendour,  and  the  taste  which  called 
them  forth  had  not  yet  wearied  of  them.  Later  trav- 
ellers, with  altered  ideas,  were  not  sufficiently  interested 
to  examine  in  detail  what  already  seemed  antiquated 
and  out  of  fashion;  but  to  Evelyn,  a  passionate  lover 
of  architecture  and  garden-craft,  the  Italian  villas  were 
patterns  of  excellence,  to  be  carefully  studied  and  mi- 
nutely described  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  sought 
to  imitate  them  in  England.  It  is  doubtful  if  later 
generations  will  ever  be  diverted  by  the  aquatic  "sur- 
prises "  and  mechanical  toys  in  which  Evelyn  took  such 
simple  pleasure ;  but  the  real  beauties  he  discerned  are 
once  more  receiving  intelligent  recognition  after  two 
centuries  of  contempt  and  indifference.  It  is  worth 
noting  in  this  connection  that,  at  the  very  height  of  the 
reaction  against  Italian  gardens,  they  were  lovingly 
studied  and  truly  understood  by  two  men  great  enough 
to  rise  above  the  prejudices  of  their  age:  the  French 
architects  Percier  and  Fontaine,  whose  volume  con- 
tains some  of  the  most  suggestive  analyses  ever  written 
of  the  purpose  and  meaning  of  Renaissance  garden- 
architecture. 

Probably  one  of  the  least  changed  among  the  villas 
visited  by  Evelyn  is  "the  house  of  the  Duke  of  Flor- 
ence upon  the  brow  of  Mons  Pincius."  The  Villa 
Medici,  on  being  sold  by  that  family  in  1801,  had  the 

89 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

good  fortune  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  French  gov- 
ernment, and  its  "facciata  incrusted  with  antique  and 
rare  basso-reHevos  and  statues  "  still  looks  out  over  the 
statued  arcade,  the  terrace  "  balustraded  with  white 
marble"  and  planted  with  "perennial  greens,"  and  the 
"mount  planted  with  cypresses,"  which  Evelyn  so  justly 
admired. 

The  villa,  built  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century 
by  Annibale  Lippi,  was  begun  for  one  cardinal  and 
completed  for  another.  It  stands  in  true  Italian  fashion 
against  the  hillside  above  the  Spanish  Steps,  its  airy 
upper  stories  planted  on  one  of  the  mighty  bastion-like 
basements  so  characteristic  of  the  Roman  villa.  A 
villa  above,  a  fortress  below,  it  shows  that,  even  in  the 
polished  cinque-cento,  life  in  the  Papal  States  needed 
the  protection  of  stout  walls  and  heavily  barred  win- 
dows. The  garden-fagade,  raised  a  story  above  the 
entrance,  has  all  the  smiling  openness  of  the  Renaissance 
pleasure-house,  and  is  interesting  as  being  probably  the 
earliest  example  of  the  systematic  use  of  fragments  of 
antique  sculpture  in  an  architectural  elevation.  But  this 
fa(jade,  with  its  charming  central  loggia,  is  sufficiently 
well  known  to  make  a  detailed  description  superfluous, 
and  it  need  be  studied  here  only  in  relation  to  its  sur- 
roundings. 

Falda's  plan  of  the  grounds,  and  that  of  Percier  and 
Fontaine,  made  over  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  later, 
show  how  little  succeeding  fashions  have  been  allowed 

90 


ROMAN    VILLAS 

to  disturb  the  original  design.  The  gardens  are  still 
approached  by  a  long  shady  alley  which  ascends  from 
the  piazza  before  the  entrance ;  and  they  are  still  di- 
vided into  a  symmetrically  planted  grove,  a  flower-gar- 
den before  the  house,  and  an  upper  wild-wood  with 
a  straight  path  leading  to  the  "mount  planted  with 
cypresses." 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  one  enters  the  grounds  of  the 
Villa  Medici  without  being  soothed  and  charmed  by  that 
garden-magic  which  is  the  peculiar  quality  of  some  of 
the  old  Italian  pleasances.  It  is  not  necessary  to  be  a 
student  of  garden-architecture  to  feel  the  spell  of  quiet 
and  serenity  which  falls  on  one  at  the  very  gateway ; 
but  it  is  worth  the  student's  while  to  try  to  analyze  the 
elements  of  which  the  sensation  is  composed.  Perhaps 
they  will  be  found  to  resolve  themselves  into  diversity, 
simplicity  and  fitness.  The  plan  of  the  garden  is  simple, 
but  its  different  parts  are  so  contrasted  as  to  produce,  by 
the  fewest  means,  a  pleasant  sense  of  variety  without 
sacrifice  of  repose.  The  ilex-grove  into  which  one  first 
enters  is  traversed  by  hedged  alleys  which  lead  to  rond- 
points  with  stone  seats  and  marble  Terms.  At  one  point 
the  enclosing  wall  of  ilex  is  broken  to  admit  a  charming 
open  loggia,  whence  one  looks  into  the  depths  of  green 
below.  Emerging  from  the  straight  shady  walks,  with 
their  effect  of  uniformity  and  repose,  one  comes  on  the 
flower-garden  before  the  house,  spreading  to  the  sun- 
shine its  box-edged  parterres  adorned  with   fountains 

93 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

and  statues.  Here  garden  and  house-front  are  har- 
monized by  a  strong  predominance  of  architectural  lines, 
and  by  the  beautiful  lateral  loggia,  with  niches  for 
statues,  above  which  the  upper  ilex-wood  rises.  Tall 
hedges  and  trees  there  are  none ;  for  from  the  villa  one 
looks  across  the  garden  at  the  wide  sweep  of  the  Cam- 
pagna  and  the  mountains ;  indeed,  this  is  probably  one 
of  the  first  of  the  gardens  which  Gurlitt  defines  as  "  gar- 
dens to  look  out  from,"  in  contradistinction  to  the  earlier 
sort,  the  "gardens  to  look  into."  Mounting  to  the  ter- 
race, one  comes  to  the  third  division  of  the  garden,  the 
wild-wood  with  its  irregular  levels,  through  which  a 
path  leads  to  the  mount,  with  a  little  temple  on  its  sum- 
mit. This  is  a  rare  feature  in  Italian  grounds:  in  hilly 
Italy  there  was  small  need  of  creating  the  artificial  hill- 
ocks so  much  esteemed  in  the  old  English  gardens.  In 
this  case,  however,  the  mount  justifies  its  existence,  for 
it  affords  a  wonderful  view  over  the  other  side  of  Rome 
and  the  Campagna. 

Finally,  the  general  impression  of  the  Medici  garden 
resolves  itself  into  a  sense  of  fitness,  of  perfect  harmony 
between  the  material  at  hand  and  the  use  made  of  it. 
The  architect  has  used  his  opportunities  to  the  utmost ; 
but  he  has  adapted  nature  without  distorting  it.  In 
some  of  the  great  French  gardens,  at  Vaux  and  \'cr- 
sailles  for  example,  one  is  conscious,  under  all  the 
beauty,  of  the  immense  effort  expended,  of  the  vast  up- 
heavals of  earth,  the  forced  creating  of  effects ;  but  it 

94 


ROMAN    VILLAS 

was  the  great  gift  of  the  Italian  gardener  to  see  the  nat- 
ural advantages  of  his  incomparable  landscape,  and  to 
fit  them  into  his  scheme  with  an  art  which  concealed 
itself. 

While  Annibale  Lippi,  an  architect  known  by  only 
two  buildings,  was  laying  out  the  Medici  garden,  the 
Palatine  Hill  was  being  clothed  with  monumental  ter- 
races by  a  master  to  whom  the  Italian  Renaissance 
owed  much  of  its  stateliest  architecture.  Vignola,  who 
transformed  the  slopes  of  the  Palatine  into  the  sumptu- 
ous Farnese  gardens,  was  the  architect  of  the  mighty 
fortress-villa  of  Caprarola,  and  of  the  garden-portico  of 
Mondragone ;  and  tradition  ascribes  to  him  also  the  in- 
comparable Lante  gardens  at  Bagnaia. 

In  the  Farnese  gardens  he  found  full  play  for  his  gift 
of  grouping  masses  and  for  the  scenic  sense  which  en- 
abled him  to  create  such  grandiose  backgrounds  for  the 
magnificence  of  the  great  Roman  prelates.  The  Pala- 
tine gardens  have  been  gradually  sacrificed  to  the  exca- 
vations of  the  Palace  of  the  Caesars,  but  their  almost 
theatrical  magnificence  is  shown  in  the  prints  of  Falda 
and  of  Percier  and  Fontaine.  In  this  prodigal  develop- 
ment of  terraces,  niches,  porticoes  and  ramps,  one  per- 
ceives the  outcome  of  Bramante's  double  staircase  in 
the  inner  gardens  of  the  Vatican,  and  Burckhardt  justly 
remarks  that  in  the  Farnese  gardens  "the  period  of 
unity  of  composition  and  effective  grouping  of  masses  " 
finally  triumphs  over  the  earlier  style. 

97 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

No  villa  was  ever  built  on  this  site,  and  there  is 
consequently  an  air  of  heaviness  and  over-importance 
about  the  stately  ascent  which  leads  merely  to  two 
domed  pavilions ;  but  the  composition  would  have 
regained  its  true  value  had  it  been  crowned  by  such  a 
palace  as  the  Roman  cardinals  were  beginning  to  erect 
for  themselves.  It  is  especially  interesting  to  note  the 
contrast  in  style  and  plan  between  this  garden  and  that 
of  the  contemporaneous  Villa  Medici.  One  was  designed 
for  display,  the  other  for  privacy,  and  the  success  with 
which  the  purpose  of  each  is  fulfilled  shows  the  origi- 
nality and  independence  of  their  creators.  It  is  a  com- 
mon error  to  think  of  the  Italian  gardens  of  the  Renais- 
sance as  repeating  endlessly  the  same  architectural 
effects  :  their  peculiar  charm  lies  chiefly  in  the  versatility 
with  which  their  designers  adapted  them  to  different 
sites  and  different  requirements. 

As  an  example  of  this  independence  of  meaningless 
conventions,  let  the  student  turn  from  the  Villa  Medici 
and  the  Orti  Farnesiani  to  a  third  type  of  villa  created 
at  the  same  time  —  the  Casino  of  Pope  Pius  IV  in  the 
Vatican  gardens,  built  in  1560  by  the  Neapolitan  archi- 
tect Pirro  Ligorio. 

This  exquisite  little  garden-house  lies  in  a  hollow  of 
the  outer  Vatican  gardens  near  the  Via  de'  Fondamenti. 
A  hillside  once  clothed  with  a  grove  rises  abruptly 
behind  it,  and  in  this  hillside  a  deep  oblong  cut  has 
been   made   and    faced   with   a  rctaining-wall.      In   the 

98 


ROMAN    VILLAS 

space  thus  cleared  the  villa  is  built,  some  ten  or  fifteen 
feet  away  from  the  wall,  so  that  its  ground  floor  is  cool 
and  shaded  without  bemg  damp.  The  building,  which 
IS  long  and  narrow,  runs  lengthwise  into  the  cut,  its 
long  facades  being  treated  as  sides,  while  it  presents 
a  narrow  end  as  its  front  elevation.  The  propriety  of 
this  plan  will  be  seen  when  the  restricted  surroundings 
are  noted.  In  such  a  small  space  a  larger  structure 
would  have  been  disproportionate ;  and  Ligorio  hit  on 
the  only  means  of  giving  to  a  house  of  considerable  size 
the  appearance  of  a  mere  garden-pavilion. 

Percier  and  Fontaine  say  that  Ligorio  built  the  Villa 
Pia  "after  the  manner  of  the  ancient  houses,  of  which 
he  had  made  a  special  study."  The  influence  of  the 
Roman  fresco-architecture  is  in  fact  visible  in  this  deli- 
cious little  building,  but  so  freely  modified  by  the  per- 
sonal taste  of  the  architect  that  it  has  none  of  the  rigidity 
of  the  "reconstitution,"  but  seems  rather  the  day-dream 
of  an  artist  who  has  saturated  his  mind  with  the  past. 

The  fagade  is  a  mere  pretext  for  the  display  of  the 
most  exquisite  and  varied  stucco  ornamentation,  in 
which  motives  borrowed  from  the  Roman  stucchi  are 
harmonized  with  endless  versatility.  In  spite  of  the 
wealth  of  detail,  it  is  saved  from  heaviness  and  confu- 
sion by  its  delicacy  of  treatment  and  by  a  certain  naivete 
which  makes  it  more  akin  (fantastic  as  the  comparison 
may  seem)  with  the  stuccoed  facade  of  San  Bernardino 
at  Perugia  than  with  similar  compositions  of  its  own 


lOI 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 


period.  The  angels  or  genii  in  the  oblong  panels  are 
curiously  suggestive  of  Agostino  da  Duccio,  and  the 
pale-yellow  tarnished  surface  of  the  stucco  recalls  the 
delicate  hues  of  the  Perugian  chapel. 

The  ground  floor  consists  of  an  open  loggia  of  three 
arches  on  columns,  forming  a  kind  of  atrium  curiously 

faced  with  an  elaborate 
mosaic-work  of  tiny 
round  pebbles,  stained 
in  various  colours  and 
set  in  arabesques  and 
other  antique  patterns. 
The  coigns  of  the  facade 
are  formed  of  this  same 
mosaic  —  a  last  touch  of 
fancifulness  where  all  is 
fantastic.  The  barrel- 
vault  of  the  atrium  is  a 
marvel  of  delicate  sfiic- 
cature,  evidently  inspired  by  the  work  of  Giovanni  da 
Udine  at  the  Villa  Madama ;  and  at  each  end  stands  a 
splendid  marble  basin  resting  on  winged  griffins.  The 
fragile  decorations  of  this  exquisite  loggia  are  open  on 
three  sides  to  the  weather,  and  many  windows  of  the 
upper  rooms  (which  are  decorated  in  the  same  style)  are 
unshuttered  and  have  broken  panes,  so  that  this  unique 
example  of  cinque-cento  decoration  is  gradually  falling 
into  ruin  from  mere  exposure.     The  steps  of  the  atrium, 

I02 


COURTYARD  GATE  OF  THK   VILLA   PIA 


ROMAN    VILLAS 

flanked  by  marble  Cupids  on  dolphins,  lead  to  an  oval 
paved  court  with  a  central  fountain  in  which  the  Cupid- 
motive  is  repeated.  This  court  is  enclosed  by  a  low  wall 
with  a  seat  running  around  it  and  surmounted  by  marble 
vases  of  a  beautiful  tazza-like  shape.  Facing  the  loggia, 
the  wall  is  broken  (as  at  the  Villa  di  Papa  Giulio)  by  a 
small  pavilion  resting  on  an  open  arcade,  with  an  attic 
adorned  with  stucco  panels ;  while  at  the  sides,  equidis- 
tant between  the  villa  and  the  pavilion,  are  two  vaulted 
porticoes,  with  fagades  like  arches  of  triumph,  by  means 
of  which  access  is  obtained  to  curving  ramps  that  lead 
to  the  lower  level  of  the  gardens.  These  porticoes  are 
also  richly  adorned  with  stucco  panels,  and  lined  within 
M-ith  a  mosaic-work  of  pebbles,  forming  niches  for  a  row 
of  busts. 

From  the  central  pavilion  one  looks  down  on  a  tank 
at  its  base  (the  pavilion  being  a  story  lower  on  its  outer 
or  garden  side).  This  tank  is  surmounted  by  a  statue 
of  Thetis  on  a  rock-work  throne,  in  a  niche  formed  in 
the  basement  of  the  pavilion.  The  tank  encloses  the 
pavilion  on  three  sides,  like  a  moat,  and  the  water, 
gushing  from  three  niches,  overflows  the  low  stone  curb 
and  drips  on  a  paved  walk  slightly  hollowed  to  receive 
it — a  device  producing  a  wonderful  effect  of  coolness 
and  superabundance  of  water. 

The  old  gardens  of  the  villa  were  on  a  level  with  the 
tank,  and  Falda's  print  shows  the  ingenuity  of  their 
planning.    These  gardens  have  now  been  almost  entirely 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

destroyed,  and  the  bosco  above  the  \illa  has  been  cut 
down  and  replaced  by  bare  grass-banks  dotted  with 
shrubs. 

The  Villa  Pia  has  been  thus  minutely  described,  first, 
because  it  is  seldom  accessible,  and  consequently  little 
known;  but  chiefly  because  it  is  virtually  not  a  dwelling- 
house,  but  a  garden-house,  and  thus  forms  a  part  of  the 
actual  composition  of  the  garden.  As  such  it  stands 
alone  in  Italian  architecture,  and  Burckhardt,  who  notes 
how  well  its  lavish  ornament  is  suited  to  a  little  pleasure- 
pavilion  in  a  garden,  is  right  in  describing  it  as  the 
"  most  perfect  retreat  imaginable  for  a  midsummer  after- 
noon." 

The  outer  gardens  of  the  Vatican,  in  a  corner  of  which 
the  Villa  Pia  lies,  were  probably  laid  out  by  Antonio  da 
Sangallo  the  Younger,  who  died  in  1546;  and  though 
much  disfigured,  they  still  show  traces  of  their  original 
plan.  The  sunny  sheltered  terrace,  espaliered  with 
lemons,  is  a  good  example  of  the  "walk  for  the  cold 
season  "  for  which  Italian  garden-architects  always  pro- 
vided ;  and  the  large  sunken  flower-garden  surrounded 
by  hanging  woods  is  one  of  the  earliest  instances  of  this 
effective  treatment  of  i\\t  giardino  segyeto.  In  fact,  the 
Vatican  may  have  suggested  many  features  of  the  later 
Renaissance  garden,  with  its  wide-spread  plan  which 
gradually  came  to  include  the  park. 

The  seventeenth  century  saw  the  development  of  this 
extended  plan,  but  saw  also  the  decline  of  the  architec- 

104 


w 


ROMAN    VILLAS 

tural  restraint  and  purity  of  detail  which  mark  the 
generation  of  Vignola  and  Sangallo.  The  Villa  Bor- 
ghese,  built  in  1618  by  the  Flemish  architect  Giovanni 
Vasanzia  (John  of  Xanten),  shows  a  complete  departure 
from  the  old  tradition.  Its  elevation  may  indeed  be 
traced  to  the  influence  of  the  garden-front  of  the  Villa 
Medici,  which  was  probably  the  prototype  of  the  gay 
pleasure-house  in  which  ornamental  detail  superseded 
architectural  composition ;  but  the  garden-architecture 
of  the  Villa  Borghese,  and  the  treatment  of  its  extensive 
grounds,  show  the  complete  triumph  of  the  baroque. 

The  grounds  of  the  Villa  Borghese,  which  include  a 
park  of  several  hundred  acres,  were  laid  out  by  Dome- 
nico  Savino  and  Girolamo  Rainaldi,  while  its  water- 
works are  due  to  Giovanni  Fontana,  whose  name  is 
associated  with  the  great  jeux  d'eanx  of  the  villas  at 
Frascati.  Falda's  plan  shows  that  the  grounds  about 
the  house  have  been  little  changed.  At  each  end  of  the 
villa  is  the  oblong  secret  garden,  not  sunken  but  walled  ; 
in  front  an  entrance-court,  at  the  back  an  open  space 
enclosed  in  a  wall  of  clipped  ilexes  against  which  statues 
were  set,  and  containing  a  central  fountain.  Beyond  the 
left-hand  walled  garden  are  various  dependencies,  in- 
cluding an  aviary.  These  little  buildings,  boldly  baroque 
in  style,  surcharged  with  stucco  ornament,  and  not  with- 
out a  certain  Flemish  heaviness  of  touch,  have  yet  that 
gaiety,  that  imprevti,  which  was  becoming  the  distin- 
guishing note  of   Roman  garden-architecture.     On  a 

107 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 


larger  scale  they  would  be  oppressive ;  but  as  mere 
garden-houses,  with  their  leafy  background,  and  the 
picturesque  adjuncts  of  high  walls,  wrought-iron  gates, 
vases  and  statues,  they  have  an  undeniable  charm. 

The  plan  of  the  Borghese  park  has  been  the  subject 
of   much    discussion.      Falda's    print    shows    only    the 

vicinity  of  the  villa,  and 
it  has  never  been  decid- 
ed when  the  outlying 
grounds  were  laid  out 
and  how  much  they  have 
been  modified.  At  pres- 
ent the  park,  with  its 
romantic  groves  of  um- 
brella-pine, its  ilex  ave- 
nues, lake  and  amphitheatre,  its  sham  ruins  and  little 
buildings  scattered  on  irregular  grassy  knolls,  has  the 
appearance  of  ayVw////  a //g/ir/s  laid  out  at  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Herr  Tuckermann,  persuaded  that 
this  park  is  the  work  of  Giovanni  Fontana,  sees  in  him 
the  originator  of  the  "sentimental"  English  and  Ger- 
man landscape-gardens,  with  their  hermitages,  mauso- 
leums and  temples  of  Friendship  ;  but  Percier  and  Fon- 
taine, from  whose  plan  of  the  park  his  inference  is 
avowedly  drawn,  state  that  the  grounds  were  much 
modified  in  1789  by  Jacob  Moore,  an  English  landscape- 
gardener,  and  by  Pietro  Camporesi  of  Rome.  Herr 
Gurlitt,  who  seems  to  have  overlooked  this  statement, 

108 


GATEWAY  OF  THE   VILLA   BORGHESE 


ROMAN    VILLAS 

declares  himself  unable  to  pronounce  on  the  date  of  this 
"creation  already  touched  with  the  feeling  of  sentimen- 
tality"; but  Burckhardt,  who  is  always  accurate,  says 
that  the  hippodrome  and  the  temple  of  yEsculapius  are 
of  late  date,  and  that  the  park  was  remodelled  in  the 
style  of  Poussin's  landscapes  in  1849. 

About  thirty  years  later  than  the  Villa  Borghese  there 
arose  its  rival  among  the  great  Roman  country-seats,  the 
Villa  Belrespiro  or  Pamphily,  on  the  Janiculan.  The 
Villa  Pamphily,  designed  by  Alessandro  Algardi  of 
Bologna,  is  probably  the  best  known  and  most  admired 
of  Roman  maisons  de  plaisance,  and  its  incomparable 
ilex  avenues  and  pine-woods,  its  rolling  meadows  and 
wide  views  over  the  Campagna,  have  enchanted  many 
to  whom  its  architectural  beauties  would  not  appeal. 

The  house,  with  its  incrustations  of  antique  bas-reliefs, 
cleverly  adapted  in  the  style  of  the  Villa  Medici,  but 
with  far  greater  richness  and  license  of  ornament,  is  a 
perfect  example  of  the  seventeenth-century  villa,  or 
rather  casino ;  for  it  was  really  intended,  not  for  a  resi- 
dence, but  for  a  suburban  lodge.  It  is  flanked  by  lateral 
terraces,  and  the  garden-front  is  a  story  lower  than  the 
other,  so  that  the  balcony  of  the  first  floor  looks  down 
on  a  great  sunken  garden,  enclosed  in  the  retaining-walls 
of  the  terraces,  and  richly  adorned  with  statues  in  niches, 
fountains  and  parterres  de  broderie.  Thence  a  double 
stairway  descends  to  what  was  once  the  central  portion 
of  the  gardens,  a  great  amphitheatre  bounded  by  ilex- 

109 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

woods,  with  a  theatre  d'eaux  and  stately  flights  of 
steps  leading  up  to  terraced  ilex-groves ;  but  all  this 
lower  garden  was  turned  into  an  English  park  in  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  One  of  the  finest 
of  Roman  gardens  fell  a  sacrifice  to  this  senseless  change; 
for  in  beauty  of  site,  in  grandeur  of  scale,  and  in  the 
wealth  of  its  Roman  sculpture,  the  Villa  Pamphily  was 
unmatched.  Even  now  it  is  full  of  interesting  fragments ; 
but  the  juxtaposition  of  an  undulating  lawn  and  dotty 
shrubberies  to  the  stately  garden-architecture  about  the 
villa  has  utterly  destroyed  the  unity  of  the  composition. 
There  is  a  legend  to  the  effect  that  Le  Notre  laid  out 
the  park  of  the  Villa  Pamphily  when  he  came  to  Rome 
in  1678;  but  Percier  and  Fontaine,  who  declare  that 
there  is  nothing  to  corroborate  the  story,  point  out  that 
the  Villa  Pamphily  was  begun  over  thirty  years  before 
Le  Notre" s  visit.  Absence  of  proof,  however,  means 
little  to  the  average  French  author,  eager  to  vindicate 
Le  Notre's  claim  to  being  the  father  not  only  of  French, 
but  of  Italian  landscape-architecture ;  and  M.  Riat,  in 
"  L'Art  des  Jardins,"  repeats  the  legend  of  the  Villa 
Pamphily,  while  Dussieux,  in  his  "Artists  Frangais  a 
I'Etranger,"  anxious  to  heap  further  honours  on  his  com- 
patriot, actually  ascribes  to  him  the  plan  of  the  Villa 
Albani,  which  was  laid  out  by  Pietro  Nolli  nearly  two 
hundred  years  after  Le  Notre's  visit  to  Rome  !  Appa- 
rently the  whole  story  of  Le  Notre's  laying  out  of  Italian 
gardens  is  based  on  the  fact  that  he  remodelled  some 

I  10 


,.,^^^^9 


.V-"  ^- 


ROMAN    VILLAS 

details  of  the  Villa  Ludovisi ;  but  one  need  only  compare 
the  dates  of  his  gardens  with  those  of  the  principal 
Roman  villas  to  see  that  he  was  the  pupil  and  not  the 
master  of  the  great  Italian  garden-architects. 

The  last  great  country  house  built  for  a  Roman  cardi- 
nal is  the  villa  outside  the  Porta  Salaria  which  Carlo 
Marchionne  built  in  1746  for  Cardinal  Albani.  In  spite 
of  its  late  date,  the  house  still  conforms  to  the  type  of 
Roman  villa  subiirbana  which  originated  with  the  Villa 
Medici ;  and  it  is  interesting  to  observe  that  the  Roman 
architects,  having  hit  on  so  appropriate  and  original  a 
style,  did  not  fear  to  continue  it  in  spite  of  the  growing 
tendency  toward  a  lifeless  classicalism. 

Cardinal  Albani  was  a  passionate  collector  of  antique 
sculpture,  and  the  villa,  having  been  built  to  display  his 
treasures,  is  appropriately  planned  with  an  open  arcade 
between  rusticated  pilasters,  which  runs  the  whole  length 
of  the  fagade  on  the  ground  floor,  and  is  continued  by  a 
long  portico  at  each  end.  The  grounds,  laid  out  by 
Antonio  Nolli,  have  been  much  extolled.  Burckhardt 
sees  in  them  traces  of  the  reaction  of  French  eighteenth- 
century  gardening  on  the  Italian  school ;  but  may  it  not 
rather  be  that,  the  Villa  Albani  being,  by  a  rare  excep- 
tion, built  on  level  ground,  the  site  inevitably  suggested 
a  treatment  similar  to  the  French?  It  is  hard  to  find 
anything  specifically  French,  any  motive  which  has  not 
been  seen  again  and  again  in  Italy,  in  the  plan  of  the 
Albani  gardens ;  and  their  most  charming  feature,  the 

I  M 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

long  ilex-walk  connecting  the  villa  with  the  bosco, 
exemplifies  the  Italian  habit  of  providing  shady  access 
from  the  house  to  the  wood.  Dussieux,  at  any  rate, 
paid  Lc  Notre  no  compliment  in  attributing  to  him  the 
plan  of  the  Villa  Albani ;  for  the  great  French  artist 
contrived  to  put  more  poetry  into  the  flat  horizons  of 
Vaux  and  Versailles  than  Nolli  has  won  from  the  famous 
view  of  the  Campagna  which  is  said  to  have  governed 
the  planning  of  the  Villa  Albani. 

The  grounds  are  laid  out  in  formal  quincunxes  of 
clipped  ilex,  but  before  the  house  lies  a  vast  sunken 
garden  enclosed  in  terraces.  The  farther  end  of  the 
garden  is  terminated  by  a  semicircular  portico  called  the 
Caffe,  built  later  than  the  house,  under  the  direction  of 
Winckelmann ;  and  in  this  structure,  and  in  the  archi- 
tecture of  the  terraces,  one  sees  the  heavy  touch  of  that 
neo-Grecianism  which  was  to  crush  the  life  out  of 
eighteenth-century  art.  The  gardens  of  the  Villa  Albani 
seem  to  have  been  decorated  by  an  archaeologist  rather 
than  an  artist.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  antique 
sculpture,  when  boldly  combined  with  a  living  art,  is 
one  of  the  most  valuable  adjuncts  of  the  Italian  garden  ; 
whereas,  set  in  an  artificial  evocation  of  its  own  past,  it 
loses  all  its  vitality  and  becomes  as  lifeless  as  its  back- 
ground. 

One  of  the  most  charming  of  the  smaller  Roman  villas 
lies  outside  the  Porta  Salaria,  a  mile  or  two  beyond  the 
Villa  Albani.     This  is  the  country-seat  of  Prince  Don 

114 


PARTERRES    ON    TERRACE,   \'JI.LA    BFILRESPIRO 

(  PAMPHTI  V.ndRl  \  .     ROM!-' 


ROMAN    VILLAS 

Lodovico  Chigi.  In  many  respects  it  recalls  the  Sienese 
type  of  villa.  At  the  entrance,  the  highroad  is  enlarged 
into  a  semicircle,  backed  by  a  wall  with  busts ;  and  on 
the  axis  of  the  iron  gates  one  sees  first  a  court  flanked 
by  box-gardens,  then  an  open  archway  running  through 
the  centre  of  the  house,  and  beyond  that,  the  vista  of  a 
long  walk  enclosed  in  high  box-hedges  and  terminating 
in  another  semicircle  with  statues,  backed  by  an  ilex- 
planted  mount.  The  plan  has  all  the  compactness  and 
charm  of  the  Tuscan  and  Umbrian  villas.  The  level 
ground  about  the  house  is  subdivided  into  eight  square 
box-hedged  gardens,  four  on  a  side,  enclosing  symmet- 
rical box-bordered  plots.  Beyond  these  are  two  little 
groves  with  statues  and  benches.  The  ground  falls  away 
in  farm-land  below  this  level,  leaving  only  the  long  cen- 
tral alley  which  appears  to  lead  to  other  gardens,  but 
which  really  ends  in  the  afore-mentioned  semicircle, 
behind  which  is  a  similar  alley,  running  at  right  angles, 
and  leading  directly  to  the  fields. 

At  the  other  end  of  Rome  lies  the  only  small  Roman 
garden  comparable  in  charm  with  Prince  Chigi's.  This 
is  the  Priorato,  or  Villa  of  the  Knights  of  Malta,  near 
Santa  Sabina,  on  the  Aventine.  Piranesi,  in  1765, 
remodelled  and  decorated  the  old  chapel  adjoining  the 
house ;  and  it  is  said  that  he  also  laid  out  the  garden. 
If  he  did  so,  it  shows  how  late  the  tradition  of  the 
Renaissance  garden  lingered  in  Italy ;  for  there  is  no 
trace  of  romantic  influences  in  the  Priorato.    The  grounds 

117 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

are  small,  for  the  house  stands  on  a  steep  ledge  over- 
looking the  Tiber,  whence  there  is  a  glorious  view  of 
St.  Peter's  and  the  Janiculan.  The  designer  of  the 
garden  evidently  felt  that  it  must  be  a  mere  setting  to 
this  view ;  and  accordingly  he  laid  out  a  straight  walk, 
walled  with  box  and  laurel  and  running  from  the  gate 
to  the  terrace  above  the  river.  The  prospect  framed  in 
this  green  tunnel  is  one  of  the  sights  of  Rome ;  and,  by 
a  touch  peculiarly  Italian,  the  keyhole  of  the  gate  has 
been  so  placed  as  to  take  it  in.  To  the  left  of  the 
pleached  walk  lies  a  small  flower-garden,  planted  with 
square-cut  box-trees,  and  enclosed  in  a  high  wall  with 
niches  containing  statues:  a  real  "secret  garden,"  full 
of  sunny  cloistered  stillness,  in  restful  contrast  to  the 
wide  prospect  below  the  terrace. 

The  grounds  behind  the  Palazzo  Colonna  belong  to 
another  type,  and  are  an  interesting  example  of  the 
treatment  of  a  city  garden,  especially  valuable  now  that 
so  many  of  the  great  gardens  within  the  walls  of  Rome 
have  been  destroyed. 

The  Colonna  palace  stands  at  the  foot  of  the  Quirinal 
Hill,  and  the  gardens  arc  built  on  the  steep  slope  behind 
it,  being  entered  by  a  stately  gateway  from  the  Via 
Quirinale.  On  this  upper  level  there  is  a  charming- 
rectangular  box-garden,  with  flower-plots  about  a  central 
basin.  Thence  one  descends  to  two  narrow  terraces, 
one  beneath  the  other,  planted  with  box  and  ilex,  and 
adorned  with  ancient  marbles.     Down  the  centre,  start- 

ii8 


ROMAN     VILLAS 

ing  from  the  upper  garden,  there  is  an  elaborate  cJidteau 
d^eaii  of  baroque  design,  with  mossy  urns  and  sea-gods, 
terminating  in  a  basin  fringed  with  ferns ;  and  beneath 
this  central  composition  the  garden  ends  in  a  third  wide 
terrace,  planted  with  square-clipped  ilexes,  which  look 
from  above  like  a  level  floor  of  verdure.  Graceful  stone 
bridges  connect  this  lowest  terrace  with  the  first-floor 
windows  of  the  palace,  which  is  divided  from  its  garden 
by  a  narrow  street ;  and  the  whole  plan  is  an  interesting 
example  of  the  beauty  and  variety  of  effect  which  may 
be  produced  on  a  small  steep  piece  of  ground. 

Of  the  other  numerous  gardens  which  once  crowned 
the  hills  of  Rome,  but  few  fragments  remain.  The  Villa 
Celimontana,  or  Mattel,  on  the  Caelian,  still  exists,  but 
its  grounds  have  been  so  Anglicized  that  it  is  interesting 
chiefly  from  its  site  and  from  its  associations  with 
St.  Philip  Neri,  whose  seat  beneath  the  giant  ilexes  is 
still  preserved.  The  magnificent  Villa  Ludovisi  has 
vanished,  leaving  only,  amid  a  network  of  new  streets, 
the  Casino  of  the  Aurora  and  a  few  beautiful  fragments 
of  architecture  incorporated  in  the  courtyard  of  the  ugly 
Palazzo  Margherita ;  and  the  equally  famous  Villa 
Negroni  was  swept  away  to  make  room  for  the  Piazza 
delle  Terme  and  the  Grand  Hotel.  The  Villa  Sacchetti, 
on  the  slope  of  Monte  Mario,  is  in  ruins ;  in  ruins  the 
old  hunting-lodge  of  Cecchignola,  in  the  Campagna,  on 
the  way  to  the  Divino  Amore.  These  and  many  others 
are  gone  or  going ;  but  at  every  turn  the  watchful  eye 

119 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

still  lights  on  some  lingering  fragment  of  old  garden-art 
—  some  pillared  gateway  or  fluted  vasca  or  broken 
statue  cowering  in  its  niche  —  all  testifying  to  what 
Rome's  crown  of  gardens  must  have  been,  and  still  full 
of  suggestion  to  the  student  of  her  past. 


I  20 


VILLAS   NEAR   ROME 


IV 

VILLAS  NEAR  ROME 

I 

CAPRAROLA    AND    LANTE 

THE  great  cardinals  did  not  all  build  their  villas 
within  sight  of  St.  Peter's.  One  of  them, 
Alexander  Farnese,  chose  a  site  above  the 
mountain  village  of  Caprarola,  which  looks  forth  over 
the  Etrurian  plain  strewn  with  its  ancient  cities  —  Nepi, 
Orte  and  Civita  Castellana — to  Soracte,  rising  solitary 
in  the  middle  distance,  and  the  encircling  line  of  snow- 
touched  Apennines. 

There  is  nothing  in  all  Italy  like  Caprarola.  Burck- 
hardt  calls  it  "perhaps  the  highest  example  of  restrained 
majesty  which  secular  architecture  has  achieved";  and 
Herr  Gurlitt  makes  the  interesting  suggestion  that 
Vignola,  in  building  it,  broke  away  from  the  traditional 
palace-architecture  of  Italy  and  sought  his  inspiration  in 
France.  "Caprarola,"  he  says,  "shows  the  northern 
castle  in  the  most  modern  form  it  had  then  attained.  .  .  . 

127 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

We  have  to  do  here  with  one  of  the  fortified  residences 
rarely  seen  save  in  the  north,  but  doubtless  necessary 
in  a  neighbourhood  exposed  to  the  ever-increasing 
dangers  of  brigandage.  Italy,  indeed,  built  castles  and 
fortified  works,  but  the  fortress-palace,  equally  adapted 
to  peace  and  war,  was  almost  unknown." 

The  numerous  illustrated  publications  on  Caprarola 
make  it  unnecessary  to  describe  its  complex  architecture 
in  detail.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  its  five  bastions  are 
surrounded  by  a  deep  moat,  across  which  a  light  bridge 
at  the  back  of  the  palace  leads  to  the  lower  garden.  To 
pass  from  the  threatening  facade  to  the  wide-spread 
beauty  of  pleached  walks,  fountains  and  grottoes,  brings 
vividly  before  one  the  curious  contrasts  of  Italian  coun- 
try life  in  the  transition  period  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
Outside,  one  pictures  the  cardinal's  soldiers  and  bravi 
lounging  on  the  great  platform  above  the  village  ;  while 
within,  one  has  a  vision  of  noble  ladies  and  their  cava- 
liers sitting  under  rose-arbours  or  strolling  between 
espaliered  lemon-trees,  discussing  a  Greek  manuscript 
or  a  Roman  bronze,  or  listening  to  the  last  sonnet  of  the 
cardinal's  court  poet. 

The  lower  garden  of  Caprarola  is  a  mere  wreck  of 
overgrown  box-parterres  and  crumbling  wall  and  balus- 
trade. Plaster  statues  in  all  stages  of  decay  stand  in 
the  niches  or  cumber  the  paths ;  fruit-trees  have  been 
planted  in  the  flower-beds,  and  the  maidenhair  withers 
in  grottoes  where  the  water  no  longer  flows.    The  archi- 

128 


VILLAS    NEAR    ROME 

tectural  detail  of  the  fountains  and  arches  is  sumptuous 
and  beautiful,  but  the  outhne  of  the  general  plan  is  not 
easy  to  trace ;  and  one  must  pass  out  of  this  enclosure 
and  climb  through  hanging  oak-woods  to  a  higher  level 
to  gain  an  idea  of  what  the  gardens  once  were. 

Beyond  the  woods  a  broad  tapis  vert  leads  to  a  level 
space  with  a  circular  fountain  sunk  in  turf     Partly  sur- 
rounding this  is  an  architectural  composition  of  rusti- 
cated arcades,  between  which  a  chdteau  d'eau  descends 
the  hillside  from  a  grotto  surmounted  by  two  mighty 
river-gods,  and  forming  the  central  motive  of  a  majestic 
double  stairway  of  rusticated  stonework.    This  leads  up 
to  the  highest  terrace,  which  is  crowned  by  Vignola's 
exquisite  casino,  surely  the  most  beautiful  garden-house 
in   Italy.     The  motive   of  the  arcades  and  stairway, 
though  fine  in  itself,  may  be  criticized  as  too  massive 
and  important  to  be  in  keeping  with  the  delicate  little 
building  above ;  but  once  on  the  upper  terrace,  the  lack 
of  proportion  is  no  longer  seen  and  all  the  surroundings 
are  harmonious.     The  composition  is  simple:  around 
the  casino,  with  its  light  arcades  raised  on  a  broad  flight 
of  steps,  stretches  a  level  box-garden  with  fountains, 
enclosed  in  a  low  wall  surmounted  by  the  famous  Cane- 
phoras  seen  in  every  picture  of  Caprarola — huge  sylvan 
'figures  half  emerging  from  their  stone  sheaths,  some 
fierce  or  solemn,    some  full  of  rustic  laughter.     The 
audacity  of  placing  that  row  of  fantastic  terminal  divini- 
ties against  reaches  of  illimitable  air  girdled  in  mountains 

131 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

gives  an  indescribable  touch  of  poetry  to  the  upper  gar- 
den of  Caprarola.  There  is  a  quahty  of  inevitableness 
about  it — one  feels  of  it,  as  of  certain  great  verse,  that 
it  could  not  have  been  otherwise,  that,  in  Vasari's  happy 
phrase,  it  was  born,  not  built. 

Not  more  than  twelve  miles  from  Caprarola  lies  the 
other  famous  villa  attributed  to  Vignola,  and  which  one 
wishes  he  may  indeed  have  built,  if  only  to  show  how  a 
great  artist  can  vary  his  resources  in  adapting  himself 
to  a  new  theme.  The  Villa  Lante,  at  Bagnaia,  near 
Viterbo,  appears  to  have  been  the  work  not  of  one  car- 
dinal, but  of  four.  Raphael  Riario,  Cardinal  Bishop  of 
Viterbo,  began  it  toward  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
and  the  work,  carried  on  by  his  successors  in  the  see, 
Cardinals  Ridolfi  and  Gambara,  was  finally  completed 
in  1588  by  Cardinal  Montalto,  nephew  of  Sixtus  V, 
who  bought  the  estate  from  the  bishops  of  Viterbo  and 
bequeathed  it  to  the  Holy  See.  Percier  and  Fontaine 
believe  that  several  architects  collaborated  in  the  work, 
but  its  unity  of  composition  shows  that  the  general 
scheme  must  have  originated  in  one  mind,  and  Herr 
Gurlitt  thinks  there  is  nothing  to  disprove  that  Vignola 
was  its  author. 

Lante,  like  Caprarola,  has  been  exhaustively  sketched 
and  photographed,  but  so  perfect  is  it,  so  far  does  it 
surpass,  in  beauty,  in  preservation,  and  in  the  quality 
of  garden-magic,  all  the  other  great  pleasure-houses  of 
Italy,  that  the  student  of  garden-craft  may  always  find 

132 


VILLAS     NEAR     ROME 

fresh  inspiration  in  its  study.  If  Caprarola  is  "a  garden 
to  look  out  from,"  Lante  is  one  "to  look  into,"  not  in 
the  sense  that  it  is  enclosed,  for  its  terraces  command  a 
wide  horizon  ;  but  the  pleasant  landscape  surrounding 
it  is  merely  accessory  to  the  gardens,  a  last  touch  of 
loveUness  where  all  is  lovely. 

The  designer  of  Lante  understood  this,  and  perceived 
that,  the  surroundings  being  unobtrusive,  he  might 
elaborate  the  foreground.  The  flower-garden  occupies 
a  level  space  in  front  of  the  twin  pavilions ;  for  instead 
of  one  villa  there  are  two  at  Lante,  absolutely  identical, 
and  connected  by  a  rampe  douce  which  ascends  between 
them  to  an  upper  terrace.  This  peculiar  arrangement 
is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  Cardinal  Montalto,  who 
built  the  second  pavilion,  found  there  was  no  other  way 
of  providing  more  house-room  without  disturbing  the 
plan  of  the  grounds.  The  design  of  the  flower-garden 
is  intricate  and  beautiful,  and  its  box-bordered  parterres 
surround  one  of  the  most  famous  and  beautiful  fountains 
in  Italy.  The  abundance  of  water  at  Lante  enabled  the 
designer  to  produce  a  great  variety  of  effects  in  what 
Germans  call  the  "water-art,"  and  nowhere  was  his 
invention  happier  than  in  planning  this  central  fountain. 
It  stands  in  a  square  tank  or  basin,  surrounded  by  a 
balustrade,  and  crossed  by  four  little  bridges  which  lead 
to  a  circular  balustraded  walk,  enclosing  an  inner  basin 
from  the  centre  of  which  rises  the  fountain.  Bridges 
also  cross  from  the  circular  walk  to  the   platform  on 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

which  the  fountain  is  built,  so  that  one  may  stand  under 
the  arch  of  the  water-jets,  and  look  across  the  garden 
through  a  mist  of  spray. 

Lantc,  doubly  happy  in  its  site,  is  as  rich  in  shade  as 
in  water,  and  the  second  terrace,  behind  the  pavilions, 
is  planted  with  ancient  plane-trees.  Above  this  terrace 
rise  three  others,  all  wooded  with  plane  and  ilex,  and 
down  the  centre,  from  the  woods  above,  rushes  the  cas- 
cade which  feeds  the  basin  in  the  flower-garden.  The 
terraces,  with  their  balustrades  and  obelisks  and  double 
flights  of  steps,  form  a  stately  setting  to  this  central 
chateau  d'eait,  through  which  the  water  gushes  by 
mossy  steps  and  channels  to  a  splendid  central  compo- 
sition of  superimposed  basins  flanked  by  recumbent 
river- gods. 

All  the  garden-architecture  at  Lante  merits  special 
study.  The  twin  pavilions  seem  plain  and  insignificant 
after  the  brilliant  elevations  of  the  great  Roman  villas, 
but  regarded  as  part  of  the  garden-scheme,  and  not  as 
dominating  it,  they  fall  into  their  proper  place,  and  are 
seen  to  be  good  examples  of  the  severe  but  pure  style 
of  the  early  cinque-cento.  Specially  interesting  also  is 
the  treatment  of  the  retaining-wall  which  faces  the  en- 
trance to  the  grounds;  and  the  great  gates  of  the  flower- 
gardens,  and  the  fountains  and  garden-houses  on  the 
upper  terraces,  are  all  happy  instances  of  Renaissance 
garden-art  untouched  by  barocchismo. 

At  Lante,  also,  one  sees  one  of  the  earliest  examples 

136 


VILLAS     NEAR    ROME 

of  the  inclusion  of  the  woodland  in  the  garden-scheme. 
All  the  sixteenth-century  villas  had  small  groves  ad- 
jacent to  the  house,  and  the  shade  of  the  natural  wood- 
land was  used,  if  possible,  as  a  backing  to  the  gardens; 
but  at  the  Villa  Lante  it  is  boldly  worked  into  the  gen- 
eral scheme,  the  terraces  and  garden-architecture  are 
skilfully  blent  with  it,  and  its  recesses  are  pierced  by 
grass  alleys  leading  to  clearings  where  pools  surrounded 
by  stone  seats  slumber  under  the  spreading  branches. 

The  harmonizing  of  wood  and  garden  is  one  of  the 
characteristic  features  of  the  villas  at  Frascati ;  but  as 
these  are  mostly  later  in  date  than  the  Lante  grounds, 
priority  of  invention  may  be  claimed  for  the  designer 
of  the  latter.  It  was  undoubtedly  from  the  Italian  park 
of  the  Renaissance  that  Le  Notre  learned  the  use  of  the 
woodland  as  an  adjunct  to  the  garden ;  but  in  France 
these  parks  had  for  the  most  part  to  be  planted,  whereas 
in  Italy  the  garden-architect  could  use  the  natural 
woodland,  which  was  usually  hilly,  and  the  effects  thus 
produced  were  far  more  varied  and  interesting  than 
those  possible  in  the  flat  artificial  parks  of  France. 

II 

VILLA    d'eSTE 

Of  the  three  great  villas  built  by  cardinals  beyond  the 
immediate  outskirts  of  Rome,  the  third  and  the  most 
famous  is  the  Villa  d'Este  at  Tivoli. 

139 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

Begun  before  1540  by  the  Cardinal  Bishop  of  Cor- 
dova, the  villa  became  the  property  of  Cardinal  Ippolito 
d'Este,  son  of  Alfonso  I  of  Ferrara,  who  carried  on  its 
embellishment  at  the  cost  of  over  a  million  Roman 
scudi.  Thence  it  passed  successively  to  two  other 
cardinals  of  the  house  of  Este,  who  continued  its 
adornment,  and  finally,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  was 
inherited  by  the  ducal  house  of  Modena. 

The  villa,  an  unfinished  barrack-like  building,  stands 
on  a  piazza  at  one  end  of  the  town  of  Tivoli,  above 
gardens  which  descend  the  steep  hillside  to  the  gorge 
of  the  Anio.  These  gardens  have  excited  so  much 
admiration  that  little  thought  has  been  given  to  the 
house,  though  it  is  sufficiently  interesting  to  merit 
attention.  It  is  said  to  have  been  built  by  Pirro  Ligo- 
rio,  and  surprising  as  it  seems  that  this  huge  featureless 
pile  should  have  been  designed  by  the  creator  of  the 
Casino  del  Papa,  yet  one  observes  that  the  rooms  are 
decorated  with  the  same  fantastic  pebble-work  used  in 
such  profusion  at  the  Villa  Pia.  In  extenuation  of  the 
ugliness  of  the  Villa  d'Este  it  should,  moreover,  be 
remembered  that  its  long  facade  is  incomplete,  save  for 
the  splendid  central  portico ;  and  also  that,  while  the 
Villa  Pia  was  intended  as  shelter  for  a  summer  after- 
noon, the  great  palace  at  Tivoli  was  planned  to  house  a 
cardinal  and  his  guests,  including,  it  is  said,  "a  suite  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  gentlemen  of  the  noblest  blood 
of  Italy."    When  one  pictures  such  a  throng,  with  their 

140 


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VILLAS    NEAR    ROME 

innumerable  retainers,  it  is  easy  to  understand  why 
the  Villa  d'Este  had  to  be  expanded  out  of  all  likeness 
to  an  ordinary  country  house. 

The  plan  is  ingenious  and  interesting.  From  the  vil- 
lage square  only  a  high  blank  wall  is  visible.  Through 
a  door  in  this  wall  one  passes  into  a  frescoed  corridor 
which  leads  to  a  court  enclosed  in  an  open  arcade,  with 
fountains  in  rusticated  niches.  From  a  corner  of  the 
court  a  fine  intramural  stairway  descends  to  what  is,  on 
the  garden  side,  the  piano  iiobile  of  the  villa.  On  this 
side,  looking  over  the  gardens,  is  a  long  enfilade  of 
rooms,  gaily  frescoed  by  the  Zuccheri  and  their  school; 
and  behind  the  rooms  runs  a  vaulted  corridor  built 
against  the  side  of  the  hill,  and  lighted  by  bull's-eyes  in 
its  roof  This  corridor  has  lost  its  frescoes,  but  preserves 
a  line  of  niches  decorated  in  coloured  pebbles  and  stucco- 
work,  with  gaily  painted  stucco  caryatids  supporting  the 
arches ;  and  as  each  niche  contains  a  semicircular  foun- 
tain, the  whole  length  of  the  corridor  must  once  have 
rippled  with  running  water. 

The  central  room  opens  on  the  great  two-storied  por- 
tico or  loggia,  whence  one  descends  by  an  outer  stair- 
way to  a  terrace  running  the  length  of  the  building,  and 
terminated  at  one  end  by  an  ornamental  wall,  at  the 
other  by  an  open  loggia  overlooking  the  Campagna. 
From  this  upper  terrace,  with  its  dense  wall  of  box  and 
laurel,  one  looks  down  on  the  towering  cypresses  and 
ilexes  of  the  lower  gardens.    The  grounds  are  not  large, 

H3 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

but  the  impression  produced  is  full  of  a  tragic  grandeur. 
The  villa  towers  above  so  high  and  bare,  the  descent 
from  terrace  to  terrace  is  so  long  and  steep,  there  are 
such  depths  of  mystery  in  the  infinite  green  distances 
and  in  the  cypress-shaded  pools  of  the  lower  garden, 
that  one  has  a  sense  of  awe  rather  than  of  pleasure  in 
descending  from  one  level  to  another  of  darkly  rustling 
green.  But  it  is  the  omnipresent  rush  of  water  which 
gives  the  Este  gardens  their  peculiar  character.  From 
the  Anio,  drawn  up  the  hillside  at  incalculable  cost  and 
labour,  a  thousand  rills  gush  downward,  terrace  by  ter- 
race, channelling  the  stone  rails  of  the  balusters,  leaping 
from  step  to  step,  dripping  into  mossy  conchs,  flashing 
in  spray  from  the  horns  of  sea-gods  and  the  jaws  of 
mythical  monsters,  or  forcing  themselves  in  irrepressible 
overflow  down  the  ivy-matted  banks.  The  whole  length 
of  the  second  terrace  is  edged  by  a  deep  stone  channel, 
into  which  the  stream  drips  by  countless  outlets  over  a 
quivering  fringe  of  maidenhair.  Every  side  path  or 
flight  of  steps  is  accompanied  by  its  sparkling  rill,  every 
niche  in  the  retaining-walls  has  its  water-pouring  nymph 
or  gushing  urn  ;  the  solemn  depths  of  green  reverberate 
with  the  tumult  of  innumerable  streams.  "The  Anio," 
as  Herr  Tuckermann  says,  "  throbs  through  the  whole 
organism  of  the  garden  like  its  inmost  vital  principle." 

The  gardens  of  the  Villa  d'Este  were  probably  begun 
by  Pirro  Ligorio,  and,  as  Ilerr  Gurlitt  thinks,  continued 
later  by  Giacomo  della  Porta.      It  will  doubtless  never 

144 


VILLAS     NEAR     ROME 

be  known  how  much  Ligorio  owed  to  the  taste  of  Orazio 
Olivieri,  the  famous  hydrauHc  engineer,  who  raised  the 
Anio  to  the  hilltop  and  organized  its  distribution  through 
the  grounds.  But  it  is  apparent  that  the  whole  compo- 
sition was  planned  about  the  central  fact  of  the  rushing 
Anio :  that  the  gardens  were  to  be,  as  it  were,  an  organ 
on  which  the  water  played.  The  result  is  extraordinarily 
romantic  and  beautiful,  and  the  versatility  with  which 
the  stream  is  used,  the  varying  effects  won  from  it,  bear 
witness  to  the  imaginative  feeling  of  the  designer. 

When  all  has  been  said  in  praise  of  the  poetry  and 
charm  of  the  Este  gardens,  it  must  be  owned  that  from 
the  architect's  standpoint  they  are  less  satisfying  than 
those  of  the  other  great  cinque-cento  villas.  The  plan 
is  worthy  of  all  praise,  but  the  details  are  too  compli- 
cated, and  the  ornament  is  either  trivial  or  cumbrous. 
So  inferior  is  the  architecture  to  that  of  the  Lante  gar- 
dens and  Caprarola  that  Burckhardt  was  probably  right 
in  attributing  much  of  it  to  the  seventeenth  century. 
Here  for  the  first  time  one  feels  the  heavy  touch  of  the 
baroque.  The  fantastic  mosaic  and  stucco  temple  con- 
taining the  water-organ  above  the  great  cascade,  the 
arches  of  triumph,  the  celebrated  "grotto  of  Arethusa," 
the  often-sketched  fountain  on  the  second  terrace,  all 
seem  pitiably  tawdry  when  compared  with  the  garden- 
architecture  of  Raphael  or  Vignola.  Some  of  the  details 
of  the  composition  are  absolutely  puerile — such  as  the 
toy  model  of  an  ancient  city,  thought  to  be  old  Rome, 

H7 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

and  perhaps  suggested  by  the  miniature  "Valley  of 
Canopus  "  in  the  neighbouring  Villa  of  Hadrian  ;  and 
there  are  endless  complications  of  detail,  where  the 
earlier  masters  would  have  felt  the  need  of  breadth  and 
simplicity.  Above  all,  there  is  a  want  of  harmony  be- 
tween the  landscape  and  its  treatment.  The  baroque 
garden-architecture  of  Italy  is  not  without  charm,  and 
even  a  touch  of  the  grotesque  has  its  attraction  in  the 
flat  gardens  of  Lombardy  or  the  sunny  Euganeans; 
but  the  cypress-groves  of  the  Villa  d'Este  are  too 
solemn,  and  the  Roman  landscape  is  too  august,  to 
suffer  the  nearness  of  the  trivial. 

Ill 

FRASCATI 

The  most  famous  group  of  villas  in  the  Roman 
country-side  lies  on  the  hill  above  Frascati.  Here, 
in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Flaminio  Pon- 
zio  built  the  palace  of  Mondragone  for  Cardinal 
Scipione  Borghese.'  Aloft  among  hanging  ilex-woods 
rises  the  mighty  pile  on  its  projecting  basement.  This 
fortress-like  ground  floor,  with  high-placed  grated  win- 
dows, is  common  to  all  the  earlier  villas  on  the  brig- 
and-haunted slopes  of  Frascati.  An  avenue  of  ancient 
ilexes  (now  cruelly  cut  down)  leads  up  through  the  park 
to    the    villa,    which    is    preceded    by    a   great    walled 

■  The  villa  was  begun  by  Martino  Lunghi  the  Elder,  in  1567,  lor  the  Cardinal 
Marco  d'  Altemps,  enlarged  by  Pope  Gregory  VII,  and  completed  by  Paul  V  and 
his  nephew,  Cardinal  Scipione  Porghese.    SeeGustav  Ebe,"  DieSpatrenaissance." 

148 


VILLAS     NEAR     ROME 

courtyard,  with  fountains  in  the  usual  rusticated  niches. 
To  the  right  of  this  court  is  another,  flanked  by  the 
splendid  loggia  of  Vignola,  with  the  Borghese  eagles 
and  dragons  alternating  in  its  sculptured  spandrels, 
and  a  vaulted  ceiling  adorned  with  stiicchi — one  of  the 
most  splendid  pieces  of  garden-architecture  in  Italy. 

At  the  other  end  of  this  inner  court,  which  was  for- 
merly a  flower-garden,  Giovanni  Fontana,  whose  name 
is  identified  with  the  fountains  of  Frascati,  constructed  a 
thedtre  d'eau,  raised  above  the  court,  and  approached 
by  a  double  ramp  elaborately  inlaid  in  mosaic.  This 
ornate  composition,  with  a  series  of  mosaic  niches  sim- 
ulating arcaded  galleries  in  perspective,  is  now  in  ruins, 
and  the  most  impressive  thing  about  Mondragone  is  the 
naked  majesty  of  its  great  terrace,  unadorned  save  by  a 
central  fountain  and  two  tall  twisted  columns,  and  look- 
ing out  over  the  wooded  slopes  of  the  park  to  Frascati, 
the  Campagna,  and  the  sea. 

On  a  neighbouring  height  lies  the  more  famous  Villa 
Aldobrandini,  built  for  the  cardinal  of  that  name  by 
Giacomo  della  Porta  in  1598,  and  said  by  Evelyn,  who 
saw  it  fifty  years  later,  "to  surpass  the  most  delicious 
places  ...  for  its  situation,  elegance,  plentiful  water, 
groves,  ascents  and  prospects." 

The  house  itself  does  not  bear  comparison  with  such 
buildings  as  the  Villa  Medici  or  the  Villa  Pamphily.  In 
style  it  shows  the  first  stage  of  the  baroque,  before  that 
school  had  found  its  formula.  Like  all  the  hill-built 
villas  of  Frascati,  it  is  a  story  lower  at  the  back  than  in 

151 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

front;  and  the  roof  of  this  lower  story  forms  at  each  end 
a  terrace  level  with  the  first-floor  windows.  These 
terraces  are  adorned  with  two  curious  turrets,  resting 
on  baroque  basements  and  crowned  by  swallow-tailed 
crenellations — a  fantastic  reversion  to  mediaevalism, 
more  suggestive  of  "Strawberry  Hill  Gothic"  than  of 
the  Italian  seventeenth  century. 

Orazio  Olivieri  and  Giovanni  Fontana  are  said  to 
have  collaborated  with  Giacomo  della  Porta  in  design- 
ing the  princely  gardens  of  the  villa.  Below  the  house 
a  series  of  splendid  stone  terraces  lead  to  a  long  tapis 
vert,  with  an  ilex  avenue  down  its  centre,  which 
descends  to  the  much-admired  grille  of  stone  and 
wrought-iron  enclosing  the  grounds  at  the  foot  of  the 
hill.  Behind  the  villa,  in  a  semicircle  cut  out  of  the 
hillside,  is  Fontana's  famous  water-theatre,  of  which 
Evelyn  gives  a  picturesque  description:  "Just  behind 
the  Palace  .  .  .  rises  a  high  hill  or  mountain  all  overclad 
with  tall  wood,  and  so  formed  by  nature  as  if  it  had 
been  cut  out  by  art,  from  the  summit  of  which  falls  a 
cascade  .  .  .  precipitating  into  a  large  theatre  of  water. 
Under  this  is  an  artificial  grot  wherein  are  curious 
rocks,  hydraulic  organs,  and  all  sorts  of  singing  birds, 
moving  and  chirping  by  force  of  the  water,  with  several 
other  pageants  and  surprising  inventions.  In  the  centre 
of  one  of  these  rooms  rises  a  copper  ball  that  continually 
dances  about  three  feet  above  the  pavement,  by  virtue 
of  a  wind  conveyed  secretly  to  a  hole  beneath  it ;   with 


VILLAS    NEAR    ROME 

many  other  devices  for  wetting  the  unwary  spectators. 
...  In  one  of  these  theatres  of  water  is  an  Atlas 
spouting,  .  .  .  and  another  monster  makes  a  terrible 
roaring  with  a  horn  ;  but,  above  all,  the  representation 
of  a  storm  is  most  natural,  with  such  fury  of  rain,  wind 
and  thunder  as  one  would  imagine  oneself  in  some 
extreme  tempest." 

Atlas  and  the  monster  are  silent,  and  the  tempest  has 
ceased  to  roar ;  but  the  architecture  of  the  great  water- 
theatre  remains  intact.  It  has  been  much  extolled  by  so 
good  a  critic  as  Herr  Gurlitt,  yet  compared  with  Vi- 
gnola's  loggia  at  Mondragone  or  the  terrace  of  the  Orti 
Farnesiani,  it  is  a  heavy  and  uninspired  production.  It 
suffers  also  from  too  great  proximity  to  the  villa,  and 
from  being  out  of  scale  with  the  latter's  modest  eleva- 
tion :  there  is  a  distinct  lack  of  harmony  between  the 
two  facades.  But  even  Evelyn  could  not  say  too  much 
in  praise  of  the  glorious  descent  of  the  cascade  from  the 
hilltop.  It  was  in  the  guidance  of  rushing  water  that 
the  Roman  garden-architects  of  the  seventeenth  century 
showed  their  poetic  feeling  and  endless  versatility ;  and 
the  architecture  of  the  upper  garden  at  the  Aldobrandini 
merits  all  the  admiration  which  has  been  wasted  on  its 
pompous  theatre. 

Another  example  of  a  theatre  d'eait,  less  showy  but 
far  more  beautiful,  is  to  be  seen  at  the  neighbouring  Villa 
Conti  (now  Torlonia).  Of  the  formal  gardens  of  this 
villa  there  remain  only  the  vast  terraced  stairways  which 

155 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

now  lead  to  an  ilex-grove  level  with  the  first  story  of 
the  villa.  This  grove  is  intersected  by  mossy  alleys, 
leading  to  circular  clearings  where  fountains  overflow 
their  wide  stone  basins,  and  benches  are  ranged  about 
in  the  deep  shade.  The  central  alley,  on  the  axis  of  the 
villa,  leads  through  the  wood  to  a  great  grassy  semi- 
circle at  the  foot  of  an  ilex-clad  hill.  The  base  of  the 
hillside  is  faced  with  a  long  arcade  of  twenty  niches, 
divided  by  pilasters,  and  each  containing  a  fountain.  In 
the  centre  is  a  great  baroque  pile  of  rock-work,  from 
which  the  spray  tosses  into  a  semicircular  basin,  which 
also  receives  the  cascade  descending  from  the  hilltop. 
This  cascade  is  the  most  beautiful  example  of  fountain- 
architecture  in  Frascati.  It  falls  by  a  series  of  inclined 
stone  ledges  into  four  oval  basins,  each  a  little  wider 
than  the  one  above  it.  On  each  side,  stone  steps  which 
follow  the  curves  of  the  basins  lead  to  a  grassy  plateau 
above,  with  a  balustraded  terrace  overhanging  the  rush 
of  the  cascade.  The  upper  plateau  is  enclosed  in  ilexes, 
and  in  its  centre  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  fountains 
in  Italy  —  a  large  basin  surrounded  by  a  richly  sculp- 
tured balustrade.  The  plan  of  this  fountain  is  an  inter- 
esting example  of  the  variety  which  the  Italian  garden- 
architects  gave  to  the  outline  of  their  basins.  Even  in 
the  smaller  gardens  the  plan  of  these  basins  is  varied 
with  taste  and  originality ;  and  the  small  wall-fountains 
are  also  worthy  of  careful  study. 

Among  the  villas    of   Frascati   there  are  two,   less 

156 


VILLAS    NEAR    ROME 

famous  than  the  foregoing,  but  even  more  full  of  a 
romantic  charm.  One  is  the  Villa  Muti,  a  mile  or  two 
beyond  the  town,  on  the  way  to  Grotta  Ferrata.  From 
the  gate  three  ancient  ilex  avenues  lead  to  the  villa,  the 
central  one  being  on  the  axis  of  the  lowest  garden.  The 
ground  rises  gradually  toward  the  house,  and  the  space 
between  the  ilex  avenues  was  probably  once  planted  in 
formal  boschi,  as  fragments  of  statuary  are  still  seen 
among  the  trees.  The  house,  set  against  the  hillside, 
with  the  usual  fortress-like  basement,  is  two  stories 
lower  toward  the  basse-cour  than  toward  the  gardens. 
The  avenue  to  the  left  of  the  entrance  leads  to  a  small 
garden,  probably  once  a  court,  in  front  of  the  villa, 
whence  one  looks  down  over  a  mighty  retaining-wall  at 
the  basse-cour  on  the  left.  On  the  right,  divided  from 
the  court  by  a  low  wall  surmounted  by  vases,  lies  the 
most  beautiful  box-garden  in  Italy,  laid  out  in  an  elab- 
orate geometrical  design,  and  enclosed  on  three  sides  by 
high  clipped  walls  of  box  and  laurel,  and  on  the  fourth 
by  a  retaining-wall  which  sustains  an  upper  garden. 
Nothing  can  surpass  the  hushed  and  tranquil  beauty  of 
the  scene.  There  are  no  flowers  or  bright  colours — only 
the  contrasted  tints  of  box  and  ilex  and  laurel,  and  the 
vivid  green  of  the  moss  spreading  over  damp  paths  and 
ancient  stonework. 

In  the  upper  garden,  which  is  of  the  same  length  but 
narrower,  the  box-parterres  are  repeated.  This  garden, 
at  the  end  nearest  the  villa,  has  a  narrow  raised  terrace, 

159 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

with  an  elaborate  architectural  retaining-wall,  containing 
a  central  fountain  in  stucco-work.  Steps  flanked  by 
statues  lead  up  to  this  fountain,  and  thence  one  passes 
by  another  flight  of  steps  to  the  third,  or  upper,  garden, 
which  is  level  with  the  back  of  the  villa.  This  third 
garden,  the  largest  of  the  three,  was  once  also  laid  out 
in  formal  parterres  and  bosquets  set  with  statues,  and 
though  it  has  now  been  remodelled  in  the  landscape 
style,  its  old  plan  may  still  be  traced.  Before  it  was 
destroyed  the  three  terraces  of  the  Villa  Muti  must  have 
formed  the  most  enchanting  garden  in  Frascati,  and 
their  plan  and  architectural  details  are  worthy  of  careful 
study,  for  they  belong  to  the  rare  class  of  small  Italian 
gardens  where  grandeur  was  less  sought  for  than  charm 
and  sylvan  seclusion,  and  where  the  Latin  passion  for 
the  monumental  was  subordinated  to  a  desire  for  mod- 
eration and  simplicity. 

The  Villa  Falconieri,  on  the  hillside  below  Mondra- 
gone,  is  remarkable  for  the  wealth  of  its  garden-archi- 
tecture. The  grounds  are  entered  by  two  splendid 
stone  gateways,  the  upper  one  being  on  an  axis  with  the 
villa.  A  grass  avenue  leads  from  this  gate  to  an  arch 
of  triumph,  a  rusticated  elevation  with  niches  and 
statues,  surmounted  by  the  inscription  "  Horatius  Fal- 
conieris,"  and  giving  access  to  the  inner  grounds. 
Hence  a  straight  avenue  runs  between  formal  ilex- 
groves  to  the  court  before  the  house.  On  the  right, 
above  the  bosco,  is  a  lofty  wall  of  rock,  picturesquely 

I  60 


VILLAS    NEAR    ROME 

overgrown  by  shrubs  and  creepers,  with  busts  and 
other  fragments  of  antique  sculpture  set  here  and  there 
on  its  projecting  ledges.  This  natural  cliff  sustains  an 
upper  plateau,  where  there  is  an  oblong  artificial  water 
(called  "the  lake")  enclosed  in  rock-work  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  grove  of  mighty  cypresses.  From  this 
shady  solitude  the  wooded  slopes  of  the  lower  park  are 
reached  by  a  double  staircase  so  simple  and  majestic  in 
design  that  it  harmonizes  perfectly  with  the  sylvan  wild- 
ness  which  characterizes  the  landscape.  This  staircase 
should  be  studied  as  an  example  of  the  way  in  which 
the  Italian  garden-architects  could  lay  aside  exuberance 
and  whimsicality  when  their  work  was  intended  to  blend 
with  some  broad  or  solemn  effect  of  nature. 

The  grounds  of  the  Villa  Falconieri  were  laid  out  by 
Cardinal  Ruffini  in  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
but  the  villa  was  not  built  till  1648.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  charming  creations  of  Borromini,  that  brilliant 
artist  in  whom  baroque  architecture  found  its  happiest 
expression ;  and  the  Villa  Falconieri  makes  one  regret 
that  he  did  not  oftener  exercise  his  fancy  in  the  con- 
struction of  such  pleasure-houses.  The  elevation 
follows  the  tradition  of  the  Roman  villa  sitburbana. 
The  centre  of  the  ground  floor  is  an  arcaded  loggia, 
the  roof  of  which  forms  a  terrace  to  the  recessed  story 
above ;  while  the  central  motive  of  this  first  story  is 
another  semicircular  recess,  adorned  with  stucco  orna- 
ment and   surmounted    by  a  broken  pediment.     The 

16; 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

attic  story  is  set  still  farther  back,  so  that  its  balustraded 
roof-line  forms  a  background  for  the  richly  decorated 
facade,  and  the  building,  though  large,  thus  preserves 
the  airy  look  and  lightness  of  proportion  which  had 
come  to  be  regarded  as  suited  to  the  suburban  pleasure- 
house. 

To  the  right  of  the  villa,  the  composition  is  prolonged 
by  a  gateway  with  coupled  columns  surmounted  by 
stone  dogs,  and  leading  from  the  forecourt  to  the 
adjoining  basse-cour.  About  the  latter  are  grouped  a 
number  of  low  farm-buildings,  to  which  a  touch  of  the 
baroque  gives  picturesqueness.  In  the  charm  of  its 
elevation,  and  in  the  happy  juxtaposition  of  garden- 
walls  and  outbuildings,  the  Villa  Falconieri  forms  the 
most  harmonious  and  successful  example  of  garden- 
architecture  in  Frascati. 

The  elevation  which  most  resembles  it  is  that  of  the 
Villa  Lancellotti.  Here  the  house,  which  is  probably 
nearly  a  century  earlier,  shows  the  same  happy  use  of 
the  open  loggia,  which  in  this  case  forms  the  central 
feature  of  the  first  story,  above  a  stately  pedimented 
doorway.  The  loggia  is  surmounted  by  a  kind  of 
square-headed  gable  crowned  by  a  balustrade  with 
statues,  and  the  fagadc  on  each  side  of  this  central  com- 
position is  almost  Tuscan  in  its  severity.  Before  the 
house  lies  a  beautiful  box-garden  of  intricate  design, 
enclosed  in  high  walls  of  ilex,  with  the  inevitable  theatre 
cfcait  at  its  farther  end.     This  is  a  semicircular  compo- 

164 


VILLAS    NEAR    ROME 

sition,  with  statues  in  niches  between  rusticated  pilasters, 
and  a  central  grotto  whence  a  fountain  pours  into  a 
wide  balustraded  basin  ;  the  whole  being  surmounted 
by  another  balustrade,  with  a  statue  set  on  each  pier. 
It  is  harmonious  and  digniiied  in  design,  but  unfor- 
tunately a  fresh  coating  of  brown  and  yellow  paint  has 
destroyed  that  exquisite  patina  by  means  of  which  the 
climate  of  Italy  effects  the  gradual  blending  of  nature 
and  architecture. 


167 


GENOESE  VILLAS 


V 

GENOESE   VILLAS 

GENOA,  one  of  the  most  splendour-loving  cities 
in  Italy,  had  almost  always  to  import  her 
splendour.  In  reading  Soprani's  "  Lives  of  the 
Genoese  Painters,  Sculptors  and  Architects,"  one  is 
struck  by  the  fact  that,  with  few  exceptions,  these  wor- 
thies were  Genoese  only  in  the  sense  of  having  placed 
their  talents  at  the  service  of  the  merchant  princes  who 
reared  the  marble  city  above  its  glorious  harbour. 

The  strength  of  the  race  lay  in  other  directions  ;  but, 
as  is  often  the  case  with  what  may  be  called  people  of 
secondary  artistic  instincts,  the  Genoese  pined  for  the 
beauty  they  could  not  create,  and  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury they  called  artists  from  all  parts  of  Italy  to  embody 
their  conceptions  of  magnificence.  Two  of  the  most 
famous  of  these.  Era  Montorsoli  and  Pierin  del  Vaga, 
came  from  Florence,  Galeazzo  Alessi  from  Perugia, 
Giovanni  Battista  Castello  from  Bergamo;  and  it  is  to 
the  genius  of  these  four  men,  sculptor,  painter,  architect, 
and  stuccatore  (and  each  more  or  less  versed  in  the 
crafts  of  the  others),  that  Genoa  owes  the  greater  part 
of  her  magnificence. 

173 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

Fra  Giovanni  Angelo  Montorsoli.the  Florentine,  must 
here  be  named  first,  since  his  chief  work,  the  Palazzo 
Andrea  Doria,  built  in  1529,  is  the  earliest  of  the  great 
Genoese  villas.  It  is  also  the  most  familiar  to  modern 
travelers,  for  the  other  beautiful  country  houses  which 
formerly  crowned  the  heights  above  Genoa,  from  Pegli 
to  Nervi,  have  now  been  buried  in  the  growth  of  manu- 
facturing suburbs,  so  that  only  the  diligent  seeker  after 
villa-architecture  will  be  likely  to  come  upon  their  ruined 
gardens  and  peeling  stucco  facades  among  the  factory 
chimneys  of  Sampierdarena  or  the  squalid  tenements 
of  San  Fruttuoso. 

The  great  Andrea  Doria,  "  Admiral  of  the  Navies  of 
the  Pope,  the  Emperor,  the  King  of  France  and  the 
Republic  of  Genoa,"  in  1521  bought  the  villas  Lomel- 
lini  and  Giustiniani,  on  the  western  shore  of  the  port 
of  Genoa,  and  throwing  the  two  estates  together,  cre- 
ated a  villa  wherein  "  to  enjoy  in  peace  the  fruits  of  an 
honoured  life" — so  runs  the  inscription  on  the  outer 
wall  of  the  house. 

Fra  Montorsoli  was  first  and  foremost  a  sculptor,  a 
pupil  of  Michelangelo's,  a  plastic  artist  to  whom  archi- 
tecture was  probably  of  secondary  interest.  Partly  per- 
haps for  this  reason,  and  also  because  the  Villa  Doria 
was  in  great  measure  designed  to  show  the  frescoes  of 
Pierin  del  Vaga,  there  is  little  elaboration  in  its  treat- 
ment. Yet  the  continuous  open  loggia  on  the  ground 
floor,  and  the  projecting  side  colonnades  enclosing  the 


GENOESE    VILLAS 

upper  garden,  give  an  airy  elegance  to  the  water-front, 
and  make  it,  in  combination  with  its  mural  paintings 
and  stucco-ornamentation,  and  the  sculpture  of  the  gar- 
dens, one  of  the  most  villa-like  of  Italian  villas.  The 
gardens  themselves  descend  in  terraces  to  the  shore, 
and  contain  several  imposing  marble  fountains,  among 
them  one  with  a  statue  of  Neptune,  executed  in  1600  by 
the  Carloni,  and  supposed  to  be  a  portrait  of  the  great 
Admiral. 

The  house  stands  against  a  steep  terraced  hillside, 
formerly  a  part  of  the  grounds,  but  now  unfortunately 
divided  from  them  by  the  railway  cutting.  A  wide 
tapis  vert  still  ascends  the  hill  to  a  colossal  Jupiter 
(under  which  the  Admiral's  favourite  dog  is  said  to  be 
buried);  and  when  the  villa  is  seen  from  the  harbour  one 
understands  how  necessary  this  stately  terraced  back- 
ground was  to  the  setting  of  the  low-lying  building. 
Beautiful  indeed  must  have  been  the  surroundings  of 
the  villa  when  Evelyn  visited  it  in  1644,  and  described 
the  marble  terraces  above  the  sea,  the  aviary  "wherein 
grew  trees  of  more  than  two  feet  in  diameter,  besides 
cypress,  myrtles,  lentiscuses  and  other  rare  shrubs,"  and 
"the  other  two  gardens  full  of  orange-trees,  citrons  and 
pomegranates,  fountains,  grots  and  statues."  All  but 
the  statues  have  now  disappeared,  yet  much  of  the  old 
garden-magic  lingers  in  the  narrow  strip  between  house 
and  sea.  It  is  the  glory  of  the  Italian  garden-architects 
that  neglect  and  disintegration  cannot  wholly  mar  the 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

effects  they  were  skilled  in  creating :  effects  due  to  such 
a  fine  sense  of  proportion,  to  so  exquisite  a  perception 
of  the  relation  between  architecture  and  landscape,  be- 
tween verdure  and  marble,  that  while  a  trace  of  their 
plan  remains  one  feels  the  spell  of  the  whole. 

When  Rubens  came  to  Genoa  in  1607  he  was  so 
impressed  by  the  magnificence  of  its  great  street  of 
palaces  —  the  lately  built  Strada  Nuova  —  that  he  re- 
corded his  admiration  in  a  series  of  etchings,  published 
in  Antwerp  in  1622  under  the  title  "  Palazzi  di  Geneva," 
a  priceless  document  for  the  student  of  Renaissance 
architecture  in  Italy,  since  the  Flemish  master  did  not  con- 
tent himself  with  mere  impressionist  sketches,  like  Cana- 
letto's  fanciful  Venetian  etchings,  but  made  careful  archi- 
tectural drawings  and  bird's-eye  views  of  all  the  principal 
Genoese  palaces.  As  many  of  these  buildings  have  since 
been  altered,  Rubens's  volume  has  the  additional  value 
of  preserving  a  number  of  interesting  details  which  might 
never  have  been  recovered  by  subsequent  study. 

The  Strada  Nuova  of  Genoa,  planned  by  Galeazzo 
Alessi  between  1550  and  1560,  is  the  earliest  example 
in  Europe  of  a  street  laid  out  by  an  architect  with  delib- 
erate artistic  intent,  and  designed  to  display  the  palaces 
with  which  he  subsequently  lined  it.  Hitherto,  streets 
had  formed  themselves  on  the  natural  lines  of  traffic,  and 
individual  houses  had  sprung  up  along  them  without 
much  regard  to  the  site  or  style  of  their  nearest  neigh- 
bors.    The  Strada  Nuova,  on  the  contrary,  was  planned 

176 


GENOESE    VILLAS 

and  carried  out  homogeneously,  and  was  thus  the  pro- 
genitor of  all  the  great  street  plans  of  modern  Europe  — 
of  the  Place  Royale  and  the  Place  Vendome  in  Paris,  the 
great  Place  at  Nancy,  the  grouping  of  Palladian  palaces 
about  the  Basilica  of  Vicenza,  and  all  subsequent  attempts 
to  create  an  organic  whole  out  of  a  number  of  adjacent 
buildings.  Even  Lenfants  plan  of  Washington  may  be 
said  to  owe  its  first  impulse  to  the  Perugian  architect's 
conception  of  a  street  of  palaces. 

When  Alessi  projected  this  great  work  he  had  open 
ground  to  build  on,  though,  as  Evelyn  remarked,  the 
rich  Genoese  merchants  had,  like  the  Hollanders,  "little 
or  no  extent  of  ground  to  employ  their  estates  in." 
Still,  there  was  space  enough  to  permit  of  spreading 
porticoes  and  forecourts,  and  to  one  of  the  houses  in  the 
Strada  Nuova  Alessi  gave  the  ample  development  and 
airy  proportions  of  a  true  villa  siibiirbana.  This  is  the 
Palazzo  Parodi,  which,  like  the  vanished  Sauli  palace, 
shows,  instead  of  the  block  plan  of  the  city  dwelling,  a 
central  corps  de  bdtiment  with  pavilions  crowned  by 
open  loggias,  and  a  rusticated  screen  dividing  the  court 
from  the  street.  It  is  curious  that,  save  in  the  case  of 
the  beautiful  Villa  Sauli  (now  completely  rebuilt),  Alessi 
did  not  repeat  this  appropriate  design  in  the  country 
houses  with  which  he  adorned  the  suburbs  of  Genoa — 
those  "  ravishing  retirements  of  the  Genoese  nobility  " 
which  prolonged  the  splendour  of  the  city  for  miles  along 
the  coast.     Of  his  remaining  villas,  all  are  built  on  the 

177 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

block  plan,  or  with  but  slight  projections,  and  rich  though 
they  are  in  detail,  and  stately  in  general  composition, 
they  lack  that  touch  of  fantasy  which  the  Roman  villa- 
architects  knew  how  to  impart. 

Before  pronouncing  this  a  defect,  however,  one  must 
consider  the  different  conditions  under  which  Alessi  and 
his  fellow-architects  in  Genoa  had  to  work.  Annibale 
Lippi,  Pirro  Ligorio,  Giacomo  della  Porta  and  Carlo 
Borromini  reared  their  graceful  loggias  and  stretched 
their  airy  colonnades  against  masses  of  luxuriant  foliage 
and  above  a  far-spreading  landscape, 

wonderful 
To  the  sea's  edge  for  gloss  and  gloom, 

while  Alessi  and  Montorsoli  had  to  place  their  country 
houses  on  narrow  ledges  of  waterless  rock,  with  a  thin 
coating  of  soil  parched  by  the  wind,  and  an  outlook 
over  the  serried  roofs  and  crowded  shipping  of  a  com- 
mercial city.  The  Genoese  gardens  are  mere  pockets 
of  earth  in  coigns  of  masonry,  where  a  few  olives  and 
bay-trees  fight  the  sun-glare  and  sea-wind  of  a  harsh 
winter  and  a  burning  summer.  The  beauty  of  the 
prospect  consists  in  the  noble  outline  of  the  harbour, 
enclosed  in  exquisitely  modelled  but  leafless  hills,  and 
in  the  great  blue  stretch  of  sea  on  which,  now  and  then, 
the  mountains  of  Corsica  float  for  a  moment.  It  will 
be  seen  that,  amid  such  surroundings,  the  architectural 
quality  must  predominate  over  the  picturesque  or  natu- 

178 


GENOESE    VILLAS 

ralistic.  Not  only  the  natural  restrictions  of  site  and  soil, 
but  the  severity  of  the  landscape  and  the  nearness  of  a 
great  city,  made  it  necessary  that  the  Genoese  villa- 
architects  should  produce  their  principal  effects  by  means 
of  masonry  and  sculpture,  rather  than  of  water  and  ver- 
dure. The  somewhat  heavy  silhouette  of  the  Genoese 
country  houses  is  thus  perhaps  partly  explained  ;  for 
where  the  garden  had  to  be  a  stone  monument,  it  would 
have  been  illogical  to  make  the  house  less  massive. 

The  most  famous  of  Alessi's  vHlas  lies  in  the  once 
fashionable  suburb  of  Sampierdarena,  to  the  west  of 
Genoa.  Here,  along  the  shore,  were  clustered  the 
most  beautiful  pleasure-houses  of  the  merchant  princes. 
The  greater  number  have  now  been  turned  into  tene- 
ments for  factory-workers,  or  into  actual  factories,  while 
the  beautiful  gardens  descending  to  the  sea  have  been 
cut  in  half  by  the  railway  and  planted  with  cabbages 
and  mulberries.  Amid  this  labyrinth  of  grimy  walls, 
crumbling  loggias  and  waste  ground  heaped  with  mel- 
ancholy refuse,  it  is  not  easy  to  find  one's  way  to  the 
Villa  Imperiali  (now  Scassi),  the  masterpiece  of  Alessi, 
which  stands  as  a  solitary  witness  to  the  former  "  ravish- 
ments" of  Sampierdarena.  By  a  happy  chance  this  villa 
has  become  the  property  of  the  municipality,  which  has 
turned  the  house  into  a  girls'  school,  while  the  grounds 
are  used  as  a  public  garden ;  and  so  well  have  house 
and  grounds  been  preserved  that  the  student  of  archi- 
tecture may  here  obtain  a  good  idea  of  the  magnificence 

179 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

with  which  the  Genoese  nobles  surrounded  even  their 
few  weeks  of  villeggiattira.  To  match  such  magnifi- 
cence, one  must  look  to  one  of  the  great  villas  of  the 
Roman  cardinals ;  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  Villa 
Doria  Pamphily  (which  is  smaller)  and  of  the  Villa 
Albani,  it  would  be  difficult  to  cite  an  elevation  where 
palatial  size  is  combined  with  such  lavish  richness  of 
ornament. 

Alessi  was  once  thought  to  have  studied  in  Rome 
under  Michelangelo ;  but  Herr  Gurlitt  shows  that  the 
latter  was  absent  from  Rome  from  1 5 1 6  to  1 535  — that 
is,  precisely  during  what  must  have  been  the  formative 
period  of  Alessi's  talent.  The  Perugian  architect 
certainly  shows  little  trace  of  Michelangelesque  influ- 
ences, but  seems  to  derive  rather  from  the  school  of  his 
own  great  contemporary,  Palladio. 

The  Villa  Scassi,  with  its  Tuscan  order  below  and 
fluted  Corinthian  pilasters  above,  its  richly  carved  frieze 
and  cornice,  and  its  beautiful  roof-balustrade,  is  perhaps 
more  familiar  to  students  than  any  other  example  of 
Genoese  suburban  architecture.  Almost  alone  among 
Genoese  villas,  it  stands  at  the  foot  of  a  hill,  with  gar- 
dens rising  behind  it  instead  of  descending  below  it  to 
the  sea.  Herr  Gurlitt  thinks  these  grounds  are  among 
the  earliest  in  Italy  in  which  the  narrow  mediaeval  hortiis 
iuclusiis  was  blent  with  the  wider  lines  of  the  landscape  ; 
indeed,  he  makes  the  somewhat  surprising  statement  that 
"  all  the  later  garden-craft  has  its  st)urcc  in  Alessi,  who, 

180 


K 


r..--^ 


GENOESE    VILLAS 

in  the  Scassi  gardens,  has  shown  to  the  full  his  charac- 
teristic gift  for  preserving  unity  of  conception  in  multi- 
plicity of  form." 

There  could  be  no  better  definition  of  the  garden- 
science  of  the  Italian  Renaissance ;  and  if,  as  it  seems 
probable,  the  Scassi  gardens  are  earlier  in  date  than  the 
Boboli  and  the  Orti  Farnesiani,  they  certainly  fill  an 
important  place  in  the  evolution  of  the  pleasure-ground  ; 
but  the  Vatican  gardens,  if  they  were  really  designed  by 
Antonio  da  Sangallo,  must  still  be  regarded  as  the 
source  from  which  the  later  school  of  landscape-archi- 
tects drew  their  first  inspiration.  It  was  certainly  here, 
and  in  the  unfinished  gardens  of  the  Villa  Madama, 
that  the  earliest  attempts  were  made  to  bring  the  un- 
tamed forms  of  nature  into  relation  with  the  disciplined 
lines  of  architecture. 

Herr  Gurlitt  is,  however,  quite  right  in  calling  atten- 
tion to  the  remarkable  manner  in  which  the  architectural 
lines  of  the  Scassi  gardens  have  been  adapted  to  their 
site,  and  also  to  the  skill  with  which  Alessi  contrived 
the  successive  transition  from  the  formal  surroundings 
of  the  house  to  the  sylvan  freedom  of  the  wooded  hill- 
top beneath  which  it  lies. 

A  broad  terrace,  gently  sloping  with  the  natural  grade 
of  the  land,  leads  up  to  a  long  level  walk  beneath  the 
high  retaining-wall  which  sustains  the  second  terrace. 
In  the  centre  of  this  retaining-wall  is  a  beautifully  de- 
signed triple  niche,  divided  by  Atlantides  supporting  a 

183 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

delicately  carved  entablature,  while  a  double  flight  of 
steps  encloses  this  central  composition.  Niches  with 
statues  and  marble  seats  also  adorn  the  lateral  walls  of 
the  gardens,  and  on  the  upper  terrace  is  a  long  tank  or 
canal,  flanked  by  clipped  shrubs  and  statues.  Thence 
an  inclined  path  leads  to  a  rusticated  temple  with  co- 
lonnes  torses,  and  statues  in  niches  above  fluted  basins 
into  which  water  once  flowed ;  and  beyond  this  there  is 
a  winding  ascent  to  the  grove  which  crowns  the  hill. 
All  the  architectural  details  of  the  garden  are  remark- 
able for  a  classical  purity  and  refinement,  except  the 
rusticated  temple,  of  which  the  fantastic  columns  are 
carved  to  resemble  tree-trunks.  This  may  be  of  later 
date ;  but  if  contemporary,  its  baroque  style  was  prob- 
ably intended  to  mark  the  transition  from  the  formality 
of  the  lower  gardens  to  the  rustic  character  of  the  natu- 
ralistic landscape  above  —  to  form,  in  fact,  a  gate  from 
the  garden  to  the  park. 

The  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  saw  this  gradual 
recognition  of  nature,  and  adoption  of  her  forms,  in  the 
architecture  and  sculpture  of  the  Italian  pleasure-house, 
and  more  especially  in  those  outlying  constructions 
which  connected  the  formal  and  the  sylvan  portions  of 
the  grounds.  "In  mid-Renaissance  garden-architecture," 
as  Herr  Tuckermann  puts  it,  "  the  relation  between  art 
and  landscape  is  reversed.  Previously  the  garden  had 
had  to  adapt  itself  to  architecture  ;  now  architectural 
forms  are  forced  into  a  resemblance  with  nature." 

184 


GENOESE    VILLAS 

Bernini  was  the  great  exponent  of  this  new  impulse, 
though  it  may  be  traced  back  as  far  as  Michelangelo. 
It  was  Bernini  who  first  expressed  in  his  fountains  the 
tremulous  motion  and  shifting  curves  of  water,  and  who 
put  into  his  garden-sculpture  that  rustle  oi  plein  air 
which  the  modern  painter  seeks  to  express  in  his  land- 
scapes. To  trace  the  gradual  development  of  this  rap- 
prochement to  nature  at  a  period  so  highly  artificial 
would  be  beyond  the  scope  of  these  articles ;  but  in 
judging  the  baroque  garden  architecture  and  sculpture 
of  the  late  Renaissance,  it  should  be  remembered  that 
they  are  not  the  expression  of  a  wilful  eccentricity,  but 
an  attempted  link  between  the  highly  conventionalized 
forms  of  urban  art  and  that  life  of  the  fields  and  woods 
which  w^as  beginning  to  charm  the  imagination  of  poets 
and  painters. 

On  the  height  above  the  Acqua  Sola  gardens,  on  the 
eastern  side  of  Genoa,  lies  Alessi's  other  great  country 
house,  the  \'illa  Pallavicini  alle  Peschiere — not  to  be 
confounded  with  the  ridiculous  Villa  Pallavicini  at  Pegli, 
a  brummagem  creation  of  the  early  nineteenth  century, 
to  which  the  guide-books  still  send  throngs  of  unsus- 
pecting tourists,  who  come  back  imagining  that  this 
tawdry  jumble  of  weeping  willows  and  Chinese  pagodas, 
mock  Gothic  ruins  and  exotic  vegetation,  represents  the 
typical  "Italian  garden,"  of  which  so  much  is  said  and 
so  little  really  known. 

The  Villa  Pallavicini  alle   Peschiere  (a  drawing  of 

1S5 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

which  may  be  seen  in  Rubens's  collection)  is  in  site 
and  design  a  typical  Genoese  suburban  house  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  The  lower  story  has  a  series  of 
arched  windows  between  Ionic  pilasters;  above  are 
square-headed  windows  with  upper  lights,  divided  by 
fluted  Corinthian  pilasters  and  surmounted  by  a  beau- 
tiful cornice  and  a  roof-balustrade  of  unusual  design, 
in  which  groups  of  balusters  alternate  with  oblong 
panels  of  richly  carved  openwork.  The  very  slightly 
projecting  wings  have,  on  both  stories,  arched  recesses 
in  which  heroic  statues  are  painted  in  grisaille. 

The  narrow  ledge  of  ground  on  which  the  villa  is 
built  permits  only  of  a  broad  terrace  in  front  of  the  house, 
with  a  central  basin  surmounted  by  a  beautiful  winged 
figure  and  enclosed  in  stone-edged  flow^er-beds.  Stately 
flights  of  steps  lead  down  to  a  lower  terrace,  of  which 
the  mighty  retaining-wall  is  faced  by  a  Doric  portico, 
with  a  recessed  loggia  behind  it.  From  this  level  other 
flights  of  steps,  flanked  by  great  balustraded  walls  nearly 
a  hundred  feet  high,  descend  to  a  third  terrace,  narrower 
than  the  others,  whence  one  looks  down  into  lower- 
lying  gardens,  wedged  into  every  projecting  shelf  of 
ground  between  palace  roofs  and  towering  slopes  of 
masonry;  while  directly  beneath  this  crowded  foreground 
sparkles  the  blue  expanse  of  the  Mediterranean. 

On  a  higher  ledge,  above  the  Villa  Pallavicini,  lies  the 
Villa  Durazzo-Grapollo,  perhaps  also  a  work  of  Alessi's. 
Here  the  unusual  extent  of  ground  about  the  house  has 

1 86 


GENOESE    VILLAS 

permitted  an  interesting  development  of  landscape-archi- 
tecture. A  fine  pedimented  gateway  with  rusticated  piers 
gives  admission  to  a  straight  avenue  of  plane-trees  lead- 
ing up  to  the  house,  which  is  a  dignified  building  with 
two  stories,  a  mezzanin  and  an  attic.  The  windows  on 
the  ground  floor  are  square-headed,  with  oblong  sunk 
panels  above;  while  on  the  first  floor  there  is  a  slightly 
baroque  movement  about  the  architraves,  and  every  other 
window  is  surmounted  by  a  curious  shell-shaped  pedi- 
ment. On  the  garden  side  a  beautiful  marble  balcony 
forms  the  central  motive  of  the  pimio  nobile,  and  the 
roof  is  enclosed  in  a  balustrade  with  alternate  solid 
panels  and  groups  of  balusters.  The  plan  is  oblong, 
with  slightly  projecting  wings,  adorned  on  both  stories 
with  coupled  pilasters,  which  on  the  lower  floor  are  rus- 
ticated and  above  are  fluted  Corinthian,  painted  on  the 
stucco  surface  of  the  house.  This  painting  of  archi- 
tectural ornament  is  very  characteristic  of  Genoese 
architecture,  and  was  done  with  such  skill  that,  at  a 
little  distance,  it  is  often  impossible  to  distinguish  a 
projecting  architectural  member  from  its  frescoed  coun- 
terfeit. 

In  front  of  the  villa  is  a  long  narrow  formal  garden, 
supported  on  three  sides  by  a  lofty  retaining-wall.  Down 
the  middle  of  this  garden,  on  an  axis  with  the  central 
doorway  of  the  facade,  runs  a  canal  terminated  by 
recHning  figures  of  river-gods  and  marble  dolphins 
spouting  water.     An  ilex-walk  flanks  it  on  each  side, 

187 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

and  at  the  farther  end  a  balustrade  encloses  this  upper 
garden,  and  two  flights  of  steps,  with  the  usual  central 
niche,  lead  to  the  next  level.  Here  there  is  a  much 
greater  extent  of  ground,  and  the  old  formal  lines  have 
been  broken  up  into  the  winding  paths  and  shrubberies 
of  ^jardin  anglais.  Even  here,  however,  traces  of  the  ori- 
ginal plan  may  be  discovered,  and  statues  and  fountains 
are  scattered  with  charming  effect  among  the  irregular 
plantations,  while  paths  between  clipped  walls  of  green 
lead  to  beautiful  distant  views  of  the  sea  and  moun- 
tains. Specially  interesting  is  the  treatment  of  the 
lateral  retaining-walls  of  the  upper  garden.  In  these 
immense  ramparts  of  masonry  have  been  cut  tunnels 
decorated  with  shellwork  and  stucco  ornament,  which 
lead  up  by  a  succession  of  wide  steps  to  the  ground  on 
a  level  with  the  house.  One  of  these  tunnels  contains  a 
series  of  pools  of  water,  which  finally  pour  into  a  stream 
winding  through  a  romantic  boschetto  on  a  lower 
level.  Here,  as  at  the  Villa  Scassi,  all  the  garden- 
architecture  is  pure  and  dignified  in  style,  and  there  is 
great  beauty  in  the  broad  and  simple  treatment  of  the 
upper  terrace,  with  its  canal  and  ilex-walks. 

From  the  terraces  of  the  Villa  Durazzo  one  looks 
forth  over  the  hillside  of  San  Francesco  d'Albaro,  the 
suburb  which  balances  Sampierdarena  on  the  east. 
Happily  this  charming  district  is  still  a  fashionable 
villeggiatura,  and  the  houses  which  Alessi  Iniilt  on  its 
slopes  stand  above  an  almost  unaltered  landscape  of 

l88 


GENOESE    VILLAS 

garden  and  vineyard.  A  fine  road  crosses  the  Bisagno 
and  leads  up  between  high  walls  and  beautiful  hanging 
gardens,  passing  at  every  turn  some  charming  villa- 
facade  in  its  setting  of  cypresses  and  camellias.  Among 
these,  one  should  not  overlook  the  exquisite  little  Para- 
disino,  a  pale-green  toy  villa  with  Ionic  pilasters  and 
classic  pediment,  perched  above  a  high  terrace  on  the 
left  of  the  ascent. 

Just  above  stands  the  Paradiso  (or  Villa  Cambiaso), 
another  masterpiece  of  Alessi's,'  to  which  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  obtain  admission.  L^nfortunately,  the 
house  stands  far  back  from  the  road,  above  intervening 
terraces  and  groves,  and  one  can  obtain  only  an  imper- 
fect glimpse  of  its  beautiful  fagade,  which  is  as  ornate 
and  imposing  as  that  of  the  Villa  Scassi,  and  of  garden- 
walks  lined  with  clipped  hedges  and  statues. 

At  Alessi's  other  Villa  Cambiaso,  higher  up  the  hill 
of  San  Francesco  d'Albaro,  a  more  hospitable  welcome 
awaits  the  sight-seer.  Here  admission  is  easily  obtained, 
and  it  is  possible  to  study  and  photograph  at  leisure. 
This  villa  is  remarkable  for  the  beauty  of  the  central 
loggia  on  the  ground  floor  of  the  facade :  a  grand 
Doric  arcade,  leading  into  a  two-storied  atrium  de- 
signed in  the  severest  classical  spirit.  So  suggestive  is 
this  of  the  great  loggia  of  the  Villa  Bombicci,  near  Flor- 
ence, that  one  understands  why  Alessi  was  called  the 

■  In  his  "  Baukunst  der  Renaissance  in  Italian  "  (Part  II,  Vol.  V)  Dr.  Josef 
Durm,  without  citing  his  authority,  says  that  the  Villa  Paradiso  was  built  in 
1600  by  Andrea  Ceresola,  called  Vanove. 

189 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

pupil  of  Michelangelo.  At  the  back  of  the  house 
there  is  (as  at  the  Villa  Bombicci)  a  fine  upper  loggia, 
and  the  wide  spacing  of  the  windows  on  the  ground 
floor,  and  the  massiveness  and  simplicity  of  all  the 
architectural  details,  inevitably  recall  the  Tuscan  style. 
Little  is  left  of  the  old  gardens  save  a  tapis  vert  flanked 
by  clipped  hedges,  which  descends  to  an  iron  grille  on 
a  lower  road ;  but  the  broad  grassy  space  about  the 
house  has  a  boundary-wall  with  a  continuous  marble 
bench,  like  that  at  the  Villa  Pia  in  the  Vatican  gardens. 
In  the  valley  between  San  Francesco  d'Albaro  and 
the  Bisagno  lies  the  dismal  suburb  of  San  Fruttuoso. 
Here  one  must  seek,  through  a  waste  of  dusty  streets 
lined  with  half-finished  tenements,  for  what  must  once 
have  been  the  most  beautiful  of  Genoese  pleasure- 
houses — the  Villa  Imperiali,  probably  built  by  Fra  Mon- 
torsoli.  It  stands  high  above  broad  terraced  grounds 
of  unusual  extent,  backed  by  a  hanging  wood ;  but 
all  the  old  gardens  have  been  destroyed,  save  the 
beautiful  upper  terrace,  and  even  the  house  has  suffered 
some  injury,  though  not  enough  to  detract  greatly  from 
its  general  effect.  Here  at  last  one  finds  that  union 
of  lightness  and  majesty  which  characterizes  the  Villa 
Medici  and  other  Roman  houses  of  its  kind.  The  long 
elevation,  with  wings  set  back,  has  a  rusticated  base- 
ment, surmounted  by  two  stories  and  an  attic  above 
the  cornice.  There  is  no  order,  but  the  whole  facade 
is  richly  frescoed  in  a  severe  architectural  style,   with 

190 


GENOESE    VILLAS 

niches,  statues  in  grisaille,  and  other  ornaments,  all 
executed  by  a  skilful  hand.  The  windows  on  the  first 
floor  have  broken  pediments  with  a  shell-like  move- 
ment, and  those  above  show  the  same  treatment,  alter- 
nating with  the  usual  triangular  pediment.  But  the 
crowning  distinction  of  the  house  consists  in  the  two 
exquisite  loggias  which  form  the  angles  of  the  second 
story.  These  tall  arcades,  resting  on  slender  columns, 
give  a  wonderful  effect  of  spreading  lightness  to  the 
facade,  and  break  up  its  great  bulk  without  disturbing 
the  general  impression  of  strength  and  dignity.  As  a 
skilful  distribution  of  masses  the  elevation  of  the  Villa 
Imperiali  deserves  the  most  careful  study,  and  it  is  to 
be  regretted  that  it  can  no  longer  be  seen  in  combina- 
tion with  the  wide-spread  terraces  which  once  formed  a 
part  of  its  composition. 


191 


LOMBARD    VILLAS 


VI 
LOMBARD   VILLAS 

ON  the  walls  of  the  muniment-room  of  the  old 
Borromeo  palace  in  Milan,  Michelino,  a  little- 
known  painter  of  the  fifteenth  century,  has 
depicted  the  sports  and  diversions  of  that  noble  family. 
Here  may  be  seen  ladies  in  peaked  hennins  and  long 
drooping  sleeves,  with  their  shock-headed  gallants  in 
fur-edged  tunics  and  pointed  shoes,  engaged  in  curious 
games  and  dances,  against  the  background  of  Lake 
Maggiore  and  the  Borromean  Islands. 

It  takes  the  modern  traveller  an  effort  of  mental  read- 
justment to  recognize  in  this  "  clump  of  peaked  isles  " — 
bare  Leonardesque  rocks  thrusting  themselves  splinter- 
wise  above  the  lake — the  smiling  groves  and  terraces 
of  the  Isola  Bella  and  the  Isola  Madre.  For  in  those 
days  the  Borromei  had  not  converted  their  rocky  islands 
into  the  hanging  gardens  which  to  later  travellers  became 
one  of  the  most  important  sights  of  the  "grand  tour"; 
and  one  may  learn  from  this  curious  fresco  with  what 
seemingly  hopeless  problems  the  Italian  garden-art  dealt, 
and  how,  while  audaciously  remodelling  nature,  it  con- 
trived to  keep  in  harmony  with  the  surroundings  amid 
which  it  worked. 

197 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

The  Isola  Madre,  the  largest  of  the  Borromean  group, 
was  the  first  to  be  built  on  and  planted.  The  plain 
Renaissance  palace  still  looks  down  on  a  series  of  walled 
gardens  and  a  grove  of  cypress,  laurel  and  pine ;  but 
the  greater  part  of  the  island  has  been  turned  into  an 
English  park  of  no  special  interest  save  to  the  horticul- 
turist, who  may  study  here  the  immense  variety  of  exotic 
plants  which  flourish  in  the  mild  climate  of  the  lakes. 
The  Isola  Bella,  that  pyramid  of  flower-laden  terraces 
rising  opposite  Stresa,  in  a  lovely  bend  of  the  lake, 
began  to  take  its  present  shape  about  1632,  when  Count 
Carlo  III  built  a  casino  di  delizie  on  the  rocky  pinnacle. 
His  son,  Count  Vitaliano  IV,  continued  and  completed 
the  work.  He  levelled  the  pointed  rocks,  filled  their 
interstices  with  countless  loads  of  soil  from  the  mainland, 
and  summoned  Carlo  Fontana  and  a  group  of  Milanese 
architects  to  raise  the  palace  and  garden-pavilions  above 
terraces  created  by  Castelli  and  Crivelli,  while  the  water- 
works were  entrusted  to  Mora  of  Rome,  the  statuary 
and  other  ornamental  sculpture  to  Vismara.  The  work 
was  completed  in  1671,  and  the  island,  which  had  been 
created  a  baronial  fief,  was  renamed  Isola  Isabella,  after 
the  count's  mother — a  name  which  euphony,  and  the 
general  admiration  the  place  excited,  soon  combined  to 
contract  to  Isola  Bella. 

The  island  is  built  up  in  ten  terraces,  narrowing  suc- 
cessively toward  the  top,  the  lowest  resting  on  great 
vaulted  arcades  which  project  into  the  lake  and  are  used 

198 


LOMBARD     VILLAS 

as  a  winter  shelter  for  the  lemon-trees  of  the  upper  gar- 
dens. Each  terrace  is  enclosed  in  a  marble  balustrade, 
richly  ornamented  with  vases,  statues  and  obelisks,  and 
planted  with  a  profusion  of  roses,  camellias,  jasmine, 
myrtle  and  pomegranate,  among  which  groups  of 
cypresses  lift  their  dark  shafts.  Against  the  retaining- 
walls  oranges  and  lemons  are  espaliered,  and  flowers 
border  every,  path  and  wreathe  every  balustrade  and 
stairway.  It  seems  probable,  from  the  old  descriptions 
of  the  I  sola  Bella,  that  it  was  originally  planted  much  as 
it  now  appears ;  in  fact,  the  gardens  of  the  Italian  lakes 
are  probably  the  only  old  pleasure-grounds  of  Italy 
where  flowers  have  always  been  used  in  profusion.  In 
the  equable  lake  climate,  neither  cold  in  winter,  like  the 
Lombard  plains,  nor  parched  in  summer,  like  the  South, 
the  passion  for  horticulture  seems  to  have  developed 
early,  and  the  landscape-architect  was  accustomed  to 
mingle  bright  colours  with  his  architectural  masses,  in- 
stead of  relying  on  a  setting  of  uniform  verdure. 

The  topmost  terrace  of  the  Isola  Bella  is  crowned 
by  a  mount,  against  which  is  built  a  water-theatre  of 
excessively  baroque  design.  This  architectural  compo- 
sition faces  the  southern  front  of  the  palace,  a  large  and 
not  very  interesting  building  standing  to  the  north  of 
the  gardens ;  while  the  southern  extremity  of  the  island 
terminates  in  a  beautiful  garden-pavilion,  hexagonal  in 
shape,  with  rusticated  coigns  and  a  crowning  balustrade 
beset  with  statues.     Even  the   narrow  reef  projecting 

199 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

into  the  lake  below  this  pavilion  has  been  converted 
into  another  series  of  terraces,  with  connecting  flights 
of  steps,  which  carry  down  to  the  water's  edge  the 
exuberant  verdure  of  the  upper  gardens. 

The  palace  is  more  remarkable  for  what  it  contains  in 
the  way  of  furniture  and  decoration  than  for  any  archi- 
tectural value.  Its  great  bulk  and  heavy  outline  are 
quite  disproportionate  to  the  airy  elegance  of  the  gar- 
dens it  overlooks,  and  house  and  grounds  seem  in 
this  case  to  have  been  designed  without  any  regard  to 
each  other.  The  palace  has,  however,  one  feature  of 
peculiar  interest  to  the  student  of  villa-architecture, 
namely,  the  beautiful  series  of  rooms  in  the  south  base- 
ment, opening  on  the  gardens,  and  decorated  with  the 
most  exquisite  ornamentation  of  pebble-work  and  sea- 
shells,  mingled  with  delicately  tinted  stucco.  These 
low  vaulted  rooms,  with  marble  floors,  grotto-like  walls, 
and  fountains  dripping  into  fluted  conchs,  are  like  a 
poet's  notion  of  some  twilight  refuge  from  summer 
heats,  where  the  languid  green  air  has  the  coolness  of 
water;  even  the  fantastic  consoles,  tables  and  benches, 
in  which  cool-glimmering  mosaics  are  combined  with 
carved  wood  and  stucco  painted  in  faint  greens  and 
rose-tints,  might  have  been  made  of  mother-of-pearl, 
coral  and  seaweed  for  the  adornment  of  some  submarine 
palace.  As  examples  of  the  decoration  of  a  garden- 
house  in  a  hot  climate,  these  rooms  are  unmatched  in 
Italy,  and  their  treatment  offers  appropriate  suggestions 

200 


LOMBARD     VILLAS 

to  the  modern  garden-architect  in  search  of  effects  of 
coolness. 

To  show  how  Httle  the  gardens  of  the  Isola  Bella 
have  been  changed  since  they  were  first  laid  out,  it  is 
worth  while  to  quote  the  description  of  Bishop  Burnet, 
that  delightful  artist  in  orthography  and  punctuation, 
who  descended  into  Italy  in  the  year  1685,  with  his 
"  portmangles  "  laden  upon  "mullets." 

"  From  Lugane"  the  bishop's  breathless  periods 
begin,  "  I  went  to  the  Lago  Maggiore,  which  is  a  great 
and  noble  Lake,  it  is  six  and  fifty  Miles  long,  and  in 
most  places  six  Miles  broad,  and  a  hundred  Fathoms 
deep  about  the  middle  of  it,  it  makes  a  great  Bay  to  the 
Westward,  and  there  lies  here  two  Islands  called  the  Bor- 
romean  Islands,  that  are  certainly  the  loveliest  spots  of 
ground  in  the  World,  there  is  nothing  in  all  Italy  that 
can  be  compared  to  them,  they  have  the  full  view  of  the 
Lake,  and  the  ground  rises  so  sweetly  in  them  that 
nothing  can  be  imagined  like  the  Terraces  here,  they 
belong  to  two  Counts  of  the  Borromean  family.  I  was 
only  in  one  of  them,  which  belongs  to  the  head  of  the 
Family,  who  is  Nephew  to  the  famous  Cardinal  known 
by  the  name  of  St  Carlo  .  .  .  The  whole  Island  is  a 
garden  .  .  .  and  because  the  figure  of  the  Island  was 
not  made  regular  by  Nature,  they  have  built  great 
Vaults  and  Portica's  along  the  Rock,  which  are  all 
made  Grotesque,  and  so  they  have  brought  it  into  a 
regular  form  by  laying  earth  over  those  Vaults.    There 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

is  first  a  Garden  to  the  East  that  rises  up  from  the  Lake 
by  five  rows  of  Terrasses,  on  the  three  sides  of  the  Gar- 
den that  are  watered  by  the  Lake,  the  Stairs  are  noble, 
the  Walls  are  all  covered  with  Oranges  and  Citrons,  and  a 
more  beautiful  spot  of  a  Garden  cannot  be  seen:  There 
are  two  buildings  in  the  two  corners  of  this  Garden,  the 
one  is  only  a  Mill  for  fetching  up  the  Water,  and  the 
other  is  a  noble  Summer-House  [the  hexagonal  pavil- 
ion] all  Wainscotted,  if  I  may  speak  so,  with  Alabaster 
and  Marble  of  a  fine  colour  inclining  to  red,  from  this 
Garden  one  goes  in  a  level  to  all  the  rest  of  the  Alleys 
and  Parterres,  Herb-Gardens  and  Flower-Gardens,  in 
all  which  there  are  Varieties  of  Fountains  and  Ar- 
bors, but  the  great  Parterre  is  a  surprizing  thing,  for  as 
it  is  well  furnished  with  Statues  and  Fountains,  and  is 
of  a  vast  extent,  and  justly  scituated  to  the  Palace,  so  at 
the  further-end  of  it  there  is  a  great  Mount,  that  face  of 
it  that  looks  to  the  Parterre  is  made  like  a  Theatre  all 
full  of  Fountains  and  Statues,  the  height  rising  up  in  five 
several  rows  .  .  .  and  round  this  Mount,  answering  to 
the  five  rows  into  which  the  Theatre  is  divided,  there  goes 
as  Many  Terrasses  of  noble  Walks,  the  Walls  are  all  as 
close  covered  with  Oranges  and  Citrons  as  any  of  our 
Walls  in  England 2X^  wath  Laurel:  the  top  of  the  Mount 
is  seventy  foot  long  and  forty  broad,  and  here  is  a  vast 
Cestern  into  which  the  Mill  plays  up  the  water  that  must 
furnish  all  the  Fountains  .  .  .  The  freshness  of  the  Air, 
it  being  both  in  a  Lake  and  near  the  Mountains,  the 

202 


LOMBARD     VILLAS 

fragrant  smell,  the  beautiful  Prospect,  and  the  delighting 
Variety  that  is  here  makes  it  such  a  habitation  for  Sum- 
mer that  perhaps  the  whole  World  hath  nothing  like  it." 
Seventeenth-century  travellers  were  unanimous  in 
extolling  the  Isola  Bella,  though,  as  might  have  been 
expected,  their  praise  was  chiefly  for  those  elaborations 
and  ingenuities  of  planning  and  engineering  which  give 
least  pleasure  in  the  present  day.  Toward  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century  a  critical  reaction  set  in. 
Tourists,  enamoured  of  the  new  "  English  garden,"  and 
of  Rousseau's  descriptions  of  the  "bosquet  de  Julie," 
could  see  nothing  to  admire  in  the  ordered  architecture 
of  the  Borromean  Islands.  The  sentimental  sight-seer, 
sighing  for  sham  Gothic  ruins,  for  glades  planted  "after 
Poussin,"  and  for  all  the  laboured  naturalism  of  Repton 
and  Capability  Brown,  shuddered  at  the  frank  artifice 
of  the  old  Italian  garden-architecture.  The  quarrel 
then  begun  still  goes  on,  and  sympathies  are  divided 
between  the  artificial-natural  and  the  frankly  conven- 
tional. The  time  has  come,  however,  when  it  is  recog- 
nized that  both  these  manners  are  manners,  the  one  as 
artificial  as  the  other,  and  each  to  be  judged,  not  by  any 
ethical  standard  of  "sincerity,"  but  on  its  own  aesthetic 
merits.  This  has  enabled  modern  critics  to  take  a  fairer 
view  of  such  avowedly  conventional  compositions  as  the 
Isola  Bella,  a  garden  in  comparison  with  which  the 
grounds  of  the  great  Roman  villas  are  as  naturaHstic  as 
the  age  of  Rousseau  could  have  desired. 

205 


ITALIAN    \M  L  L  A  S 

Thus  impartially  judged,  the  Isola  Bella  still  seems 
to  many  too  complete  a  negation  of  nature ;  nor  can  it 
appear  otherwise  to  those  who  judge  of  it  only  from 
pictures  and  photographs,  who  have  not  seen  it  in  its 
environment.  For  the  landscape  surrounding  the  Bor- 
romean  Islands  has  precisely  that  quality  of  artificiality, 
of  exquisitely  skilful  arrangement  and  manipulation, 
which  seems  to  justify,  in  the  garden-architect,  almost 
any  excesses  of  the  fancy.  The  Roman  landscape, 
grandiose  and  ample,  seems  an  unaltered  part  of  nature ; 
so  do  the  subtly  modelled  hills  and  valleys  of  central 
Italy:  all  these  scenes  have  the  deficiencies,  the  repeti- 
tions, the  meannesses  and  profusions,  with  which  nature 
throws  her  great  masses  on  the  canvas  of  the  world; 
but  the  lake  scenery  appears  to  have  been  designed  by 
a  lingering  and  fastidious  hand,  bent  on  eliminating 
every  crudeness  and  harshness,  and  on  blending  all 
natural  forms,  from  the  bare  mountain-peak  to  the 
melting  curve  of  the  shore,  in  one  harmony  of  ever- 
varying  and  ever-beautiful  lines. 

The  effect  produced  is  undoubtedly  one  of  artificiality, 
of  a  chosen  exclusion  of  certain  natural  qualities,  such 
as  gloom,  barrenness,  and  the  frank  ugliness  into  which 
nature  sometimes  lapses.  There  is  an  almost  forced 
gaiety  about  the  landscape  of  the  lakes,  a  fixed  smile  of 
perennial  loveliness.  And  it  is  as  a  complement  to  this 
attitude  that  the  Borromean  gardens  justify  themselves. 
Are  they  real?     No;  but  neither  is  the  landscape  about 

206 


LOMBARD    VILLAS 

them.  Are  they  hke  any  other  gardens  on  earth?  No; 
but  neither  are  the  mountains  and  shores  about  them 
like  earthly  shores  and  mountains.  They  are  Armida's 
gardens  anchored  in  a  lake  of  dreams,  and  they  should 
be  compared,  not  with  this  or  that  actual  piece  of  planted 
ground,  but  with  a  page  of  Ariosto  or  Boiardo. 

From  the  garden-student's  point  of  view,  there  is 
nothing  in  Lombardy  as  important  as  the  Isola  Bella. 
In  these  rich  Northern  provinces,  as  in  the  environs  of 
Florence,  the  old  gardens  have  suffered  from  the  afflu- 
ence of  their  owners,  and  scarcely  any  have  been 
allowed  to  retain  their  original  outline.  The  enthusiasm 
for  the  English  garden  swept  over  Lombardy  like  a 
tidal  wave,  obliterating  terraces  and  grottoes,  substitut- 
ing winding  paths  for  pleached  alleys,  and  transforming 
level  box-parterres  into  rolling  lawns  which  turn  as 
brown  as  door-mats  under  the  scorching  Lombard 
sun. 

On  the  lakes,  where  the  garden-architect  was  often 
restricted  to  a  narrow  ledge  of  ground  between  moun- 
tains and  water,  these  transformations  were  less  easy, 
for  the  new  style  required  a  considerable  expanse  of 
ground  for  its  development.  Along  the  shores  of  Como 
especially,  where  the  ground  rises  so  abruptly  from  the 
lake,  landscape  effects  were  difficult  to  produce,  nor  was 
it  easy  to  discover  a  naturalistic  substitute  for  the  marble 
terraces  built  above  the  water.  Even  here,  however, 
the  narrow  gardens   have  been  as  much  modified  as 

207 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

space  permitted,  the  straight  paths  have  been  made  to 
wind,  and  spotty  flower-beds  in  grass  have  replaced 
the  ordered  box-gardens  with  their  gravelled  walks  and 
their  lemon-trees  in  earthen  vases. 

The  only  old  garden  on  Como  which  keeps  more 
than  a  fragment  of  its  original  architecture  is  that  of  the 
Villa  d'Este  at  Cernobbio,  a  mile  or  two  from  the  town 
of  Como,  at  the  southern  end  of  the  lake.  The  villa, 
built  in  1527  by  Cardinal  Gallio  (who  was  born  a  fisher- 
lad  of  Cernobbio),  has  passed  through  numerous  trans- 
formations. In  18 16  it  was  bought  by  Caroline  of 
Brunswick,  who  gave  it  the  name  of  Este,  and  turned 
it  into  a  great  structure  of  the  Empire  style.  Here  for 
several  years  the  Princess  of  Wales  held  the  fantastic 
court  of  which  Bergami,  the  courier,  was  High  Chamber- 
lain if  not  Prince  Consort;  and,  whatever  disadvantages 
may  have  accrued  to  herself  from  this  establishment, 
her  residence  at  the  Villa  d'Este  was  a  benefit  to  the 
village,  for  she  built  the  road  connecting  Cernobbio  with 
Moltrasio,  which  was  the  first  carriage-drive  along  the 
lake,  and  spent  large  sums  on  improvements  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  her  estate. 

Since  then  the  villa  has  suffered  a  farther  change  into 
a  large  and  fashionable  hotel;  but  though  Queen  Caro- 
line anglicized  a  part  of  the  grounds,  the  main  lines  of 
the  old  Renaissance  garden  still  exist. 

Behind  the  Villa  d'Este  the  mountains  are  suffi- 
ciently withdrawn  to  leave  a  gentle  acclivity,  which  was 

208 


LOMBARD    VILLAS 

once  laid  out  in  a  series  of  elaborate  gardens.  Adjoin- 
ing the  villa  is  a  piece  of  level  ground  just  above  the 
lake,  which  evidently  formed  the  "secret  garden"  with 
its  parterres  and  fountains.  This  has  been  replaced  by  a 
lawn  and  flower-beds,  but  still  keeps  its  boundary-wall 
at  the  back,  with  a  baroque  grotto  and  fountain  of  pebbles 
and  shell-work.  Above  this  rises  a  tapis  vert  shaded 
by  cypresses,  and  leading  to  the  usual  Hercules  in  a 
temple.  The  peculiar  feature  of  this  ascent  is  that  it  is 
bordered  on  each  side  with  narrow  steps  of  channelled 
stone,  down  which  the  water  rushes  under  overlapping 
ferns  and  roses  to  the  fish-pool  below  the  grotto  in  the 
lower  garden.  Beyond  the  formal  gardens  is  the  bosco, 
a  bit  of  fine  natural  woodland  climbing  the  cliff-side, 
with  winding  paths  which  lead  to  various  summer- 
houses  and  sylvan  temples.  The  rich  leafage  of  walnut, 
acacia  and  cypress,  the  glimpses  of  the  blue  lake  far 
below,  the  rush  of  a  mountain  torrent  through  a  deep 
glen  spanned  by  a  romantic  ivy-clad  bridge,  make  this 
bosco  of  the  Villa  d'Este  one  of  the  most  enchanting 
bits  of  sylvan  gardening  in  Italy.  Scarcely  less  en- 
chanting is  the  grove  of  old  plane-trees  by  the  water- 
gate  on  the  lake,  where,  in  a  solemn  twilight  of  over- 
roofing  branches,  woodland  gods  keep  watch  above  the 
broad  marble  steps  descending  to  the  water.  In  the 
gardens  of  the  Villa  d'Este  there  is  much  of  the  Roman 
spirit — the  breadth  of  design,  the  unforced  inclusion  of 
natural  features,  and  that  sensitiveness  to  the  quality 

21  I 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

of  the  surrounding  landscape  which  characterizes  the 
great  gardens  of  the  Campagna. 

Just  across  the  lake,  in  the  deep  shade  of  the  wooded 
cliffs  beneath  the  Pizzo  di  Torno,  lies  another  villa  still 
more  steeped  in  the  Italian  garden-magic.  This  is  the 
Villa  Pliniana,  built  in  1570  by  the  Count  Anguissola  of 
Piacenza,  and  now  the  property  of  the  Trotti  family  of 
Milan.  The  place  takes  its  name  from  an  intermittent 
spring  in  the  court,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  one 
described  by  Pliny  in  one  of  his  letters  ;  and  it  is  farther 
celebrated  as  being  the  coolest  villa  on  Como.  It  lies 
on  a  small  bay  on  the  east  side  of  the  lake,  and  faces 
due  north,  so  that,  while  the  villas  of  Cernobbio  are 
bathed  in  sunlight,  a  deep  green  shade  envelops  it. 
The  house  stands  on  a  narrow  ledge,  its  foundations 
projecting  into  the  lake,  and  its  back  built  against  the 
almost  vertical  wooded  cliff  which  protects  it  from  the 
southern  sun.  Down  this  cliff  pours  a  foaming  moun- 
tain torrent  from  the  Val  di  Calore,  just  beneath  the 
peak  of  Torno;  and  this  torrent  the  architect  of  the  \'illa 
Pliniana  has  captured  in  its  descent  to  the  lake  and  car- 
ried through  the  central  apartment  of  the  villa. 

The  effect  produced  is  unlike  anything  else,  even  in 
the  wonderland  of  Italian  gardens.  The  two  wings  of 
the  house,  a  plain  and  somewhat  melancholy-looking 
structure,  are  joined  by  an  open  arcaded  room,  against 
the  back  wall  of  which  the  torrent  pours  down,  over 
stonework    tremulous    with    moss   and   ferns,  gushing 

212 


LOMBARD    VILLAS 

out  again  beneath  the  balustrade  of  the  loggia,  where 
it  makes  a  great  semicircle  of  glittering  whiteness  in 
the  dark-green  waters  of  the  lake.  The  old  house  is 
saturated  with  the  freshness  and  drenched  with  the 
flying  spray  of  the  caged  torrent.  The  bare  vaulted 
rooms  reverberate  with  it,  the  stone  floors  are  green 
with  its  dampness,  the  air  quivers  with  its  cool  incessant 
rush.  The  contrast  of  this  dusky  dripping  loggia,  on 
its  perpetually  shaded  bay,  with  the  blazing  blue  waters 
of  the  lake  and  their  sun-steeped  western  shores,  is  one 
of  the  most  wonderful  effects  in  sensation  that  the  Italian 
villa-art  has  ever  devised. 

The  architect,  not  satisfied  with  diverting  a  part  of 
the  torrent  to  cool  his  house,  has  led  the  rest  in  a  fall 
down  the  cliff  immediately  adjoining  the  villa,  and  has 
designed  winding  paths  through  the  woods  from  which 
one  may  look  down  on  the  bright  rush  of  the  waters. 
On  the  other  side  of  the  house  lies  a  long  balustraded 
terrace,  between  the  lake  and  the  hanging  woods,  and 
here,  on  the  only  bit  of  open  and  level  ground  near  the 
house,  are  the  old  formal  gardens,  now  much  neglected, 
but  still  full  of  a  melancholy  charm. 

After  the  Villa  Pliniana,  the  other  gardens  of  Como 
seem  almost  commonplace.  All  along  both  shores  are 
villas  which,  amid  many  alterations,  have  preserved 
traces  of  their  old  garden-architecture,  such  as  the 
Bishop  of  Como's  villa,  south  of  Leno,  with  its  baroque 
saints  and  prophets  perched  along  the  garden-balus- 

213 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

trade,  and  the  more  famous  Villa  Carlotta  at  Cade- 
nabbia,  where  the  fine  gateways  and  the  architectural 
treatment  of  the  terraces  bear  witness  to  the  former 
beauty  of  the  grounds.  But  almost  everywhere  the 
old  garden-magic  has  been  driven  out  by  a  fury  of 
modern  horticulture.  The  pleached  alleys  have  made 
way  for  lawns  dotted  with  palms  and  bananas,  the  box- 
parterres  have  been  replaced  by  star-shaped  beds  of 
begonias  and  cinerarias,  and  the  groves  of  laurel  and 
myrtle  by  thickets  of  pampas-grass  and  bamboo.  This 
description  applies  to  all  the  principal  gardens  between 
Como  and  Bellagio.  Here  and  there,  indeed,  in  almost 
all  of  them,  some  undisturbed  corner  remains  —  a  flight 
of  steps  wreathed  in  Banksian  roses  and  descending  to 
a  shady  water-gate ;  a  fern-lined  grotto  with  a  stucco 
Pan  or  Syrinx ;  a  clipped  laurel-walk  set  with  marble 
benches,  or  a  classic  summer-house  above  the  lake  — 
but  these  old  bits  are  so  scattered  and  submerged  under 
the  new  order  of  gardening  that  it  requires  an  effort  of 
the  imagination  to  reconstruct  from  them  an  image  of 
what  the  old  lake-gardens  must  have  been  before  every 
rich  proprietor  tried  to  convert  his  marble  terraces  into 
an  English  park. 

Almost  to  be  included  among  lake-villas  is  the  beau- 
tiful Villa  Cicogna  at  Bisuschio.  This  charming  old 
place  lies  in  the  lovely  but  little-known  hill-country  be- 
tween the  Lake  of  Varese  and  the  southern  end  of 
Lugano.     The  house,  of  which  the  history  appears  to 

214 


LOMBARD    VILLAS 

be  unknown  to  the  present  owners,  is  an  early  Renais- 
sance building  of  great  beauty,  with  a  touch  of  Tuscan 
austerity  in  its  design.  The  plain  front,  with  deep  pro- 
jecting eaves  and  widely  spaced  windows,  might  stand 
on  some  village  square  above  the  Arno  ;  and  the  interior 
court,  with  its  two-storied  arcade,  recalls,  in  purity  and 
lightness  of  design,  the  inheritors  of  Brunelleschi's  tradi- 
tion. So  few  country  houses  of  the  early  sixteenth  cen- 
tury are  to  be  found  in  the  Milanese  that  it  would  be 
instructive  to  learn  whether  the  Villa  Cicogna  is  in  fact 
due  to  a  Tuscan  hand,  or  whether  this  mid-Italian  style 
was  at  that  time  also  prevalent  in  Lombardy. 

The  villa  is  built  against  a  hillside,  and  the  interior 
court  forms  an  oblong,  enclosed  on  three  sides  by  the 
house,  and  continued  on  the  fourth  by  a  beautiful 
sunken  garden,  above  which  runs  a  balustraded  walk 
on  a  level  with  the  upper  story.  On  the  other  side  of 
the  house  is  another  garden,  consisting  of  a  long  terrace 
bounded  by  a  high  retaining-wall,  which  is  tunnelled 
dowm  its  whole  length  to  form  a  shady  arcaded  walk 
lined  with  ferns  and  dripping  with  runnels  of  water.  At 
the  back  of  the  house  the  ground  continues  to  rise,  and 
a  chateau  d'eau  is  built  against  the  hillside;  while  be- 
yond the  terrace-garden  already  described,  a  gate  leads 
to  a  hanging  woodland,  with  shady  walks  from  which, 
at  every  turn,  there  are  enchanting  views  across  the 
southern  bay  of  Lake  Lugano. 

The  house  itself  is  as  interesting  as  the  garden.    The 

217 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

walls  of  the  court  are  frescoed  in  charming  cinque-cento 
designs,  and  the  vaulted  ceiling  of  the  loggia  is  painted 
in  delicate  trellis-work,  somewhat  in  the  manner  of  the 
semicircular  arcade  at  the  Villa  di  Papa  Giulio.  Sev- 
eral of  the  rooms  also  preserve  their  wall-frescoes  and 
much  of  their  Renaissance  furniture,  while  a  series  of 
smaller  apartments  on  the  ground  floor  are  exquisitely 
decorated  with  stucco  ornament  in  the  light  style  of  the 
eighteenth  century;  so  that  the  Villa  Cicogna  still  gives 
a  vivid  idea  of  what  an  old  Italian  country  house  must 
have  been  in  its  original  state. 

From  the  hill-villas  of  the  lakes  to  the  country  places 
of  the  Milanese  rice-fields  the  descent  is  somewhat  ab- 
rupt; but  the  student  of  garden-architecture  may  mitigate 
the  transition  by  carrying  on  his  researches  from  the 
southern  end  of  Como  through  the  smiling  landscape  of 
the  Brianza.  Here  there  are  many  old  villas,  in  a  lovely 
setting  of  vineyard  and  woodland,  with  distant  views  of 
the  Alps  and  of  the  sunny  Lombard  plain;  but  of  old 
gardens  few  are  to  be  found.  There  is  one  of  great  beauty, 
belonging  to  the  Villa  Crivelli,  near  the  village  of  Inve- 
rigo  ;  but  as  it  is  inaccessible  to  visitors,  only  tantalizing 
glimpses  may  be  obtained  of  its  statues  and  terraces,  its 
cypress-walks  and  towering  "Gigante."  Not  far  from 
Inverigo  is  the  Rotonda  Cagnola,  now  the  property  of 
the  Marchese  d'Adda,  and  built  in  1 8 13  by  the  Marchese 
Luigi  Cagnola  in  imitation  of  the  Propylasa  of  the 
Acropolis.    The  house  is  beautifully  placed  on  a  hilltop, 

218 


LOMBARD     VILLAS 

with  glorious  views  over  the  Alps  and  Apennines,  and  is 
curious  to  the  student  as  an  example  of  the  neo-classi- 
cism  of  the  Empire ;  but  it  has  of  course  no  gardens  in 
the  old  sense  of  the  term. 

The  flat  environs  of  Milan  were  once  dotted  with 
country  houses,  but  with  the  growth  of  the  city  and  the 
increased  facilities  of  travel,  these  have  been  for  the  most 
part  abandoned  for  villas  in  the  hills  or  on  the  lakes, 
and  to  form  an  idea  of  their  former  splendour  one  must 
turn  to  the  pages  of  Alberto  del  Re's  rare  volumes. 
Here  one  may  see  in  all  its  detail  that  elaborate  style  of 
gardening  w^hich  the  French  landscape-gardeners  devel- 
oped from  the  "grand  manner"  acquired  by  Le  Notre 
in  his  study  of  the  great  Roman  country-seats.  This 
style,  adapted  to  the  flat  French  landscape,  and  com- 
plicated by  the  mannerisms  and  elaborations  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  came  back  to  Italy  with  the  French 
fashions  which  Piedmont  and  Lombardy  were  so  fond 
of  importing.  The  time  had  passed  when  Europe  mod- 
elled itself  on  Italy :  France  was  now  the  glass  of  fashion, 
and,  in  northern  Italy  especially,  French  architecture  and 
gardening  were  eagerly  reproduced. 

In  Lombardy  the  natural  conditions  were  so  similar 
that  the  French  geometrical  gardens  did  not  seem  out 
of  place ;  yet  even  here  a  difference  is  felt,  both  in  the 
architecture  and  the  gardens.  Italy,  in  spite  of  Palladio 
and  the  Palladian  tradition,  never  freed  herself  from  the 
baroque.     Her  artistic  tendencies  were  all  toward  free- 

219 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

dom,  improvisation,  individual  expression,  while  France 
was  fundamentally  classical  and  instinctively  temperate. 
Just  as  the  French  cabinet-makers  and  bronze-chisellers 
and  modellers  in  stucco  produced  more  delicate  and  fin- 
ished, but  less  personal,  work  than  the  Italian  craftsmen, 
so  the  F""rench  architects  designed  with  greater  precision 
and  restraint,  and  less  play  of  personal  invention.  To 
establish  a  rough  distinction,  it  might  be  said  that  French 
art  has  always  been  intellectual  and  Italian  art  emotional; 
and  this  distinction  is  felt  even  in  the  treatment  of  the 
pleasure-house  and  its  garden.  In  Italy  the  architectural 
detail  remained  baroque  till  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  the  architect  permitted  himself  far  greater 
license  in  the  choice  of  forms  and  the  combination  of 
materials.  The  old  villas  of  the  Milanese  have  a  very 
strong  individuality,  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  so  few 
remain  intact  to  show  what  a  personal  style  they  pre- 
served even  under  the  most  obvious  French  influences. 
The  Naviglio,  the  canal  which  flows  through  Milan 
and  sends  various  branches  to  the  Ticino  and  the  Adda, 
was  formerly  lined  for  miles  beyond  the  city  with  sub- 
urban villas.  Few  remain  unaltered,  and  even  of  these 
few  the  old  gardens  have  disappeared.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  houses  in  Del  R6's  collection,  the  Villa  Alario 
(now  Visconti  di  Saliceto) ,  on  the  Naviglio  near  Cernusco, 
is  still  in  perfect  preservation  without  and  within ;  and 
though  its  old  gardens  were  replaced  by  an  English  park 
early  in  the  nineteenth  century,  their  general  outline  is 

220 


LOMBARD    VILLAS 

still  discoverable.  The  villa,  a  stately  pile  built  by 
Ruggieri  in  1736,  looks  on  a  court  divided  from  the 
highway  by  a  fine  wall  and  beautifiil  iron  gates.  Low 
wings  containing  the  chapel  and  offices,  and  running  at 
right  angles  to  the  main  building,  connect  the  latter  with 
the  courtyard  walls ;  and  arched  passages  through  the 
centre  of  the  wings  lead  to  outlying  courts  surrounded 
by  stables  and  other  dependencies.  The  house,  toward 
the  forecourt,  has  a  central  open  loggia  or  atrium,  and 
the  upper  windows  are  framed  in  baroque  architraves 
and  surmounted  by  square  attic  lights.  The  garden  ele- 
vation is  more  elaborate.  Here  there  is  a  central  pro- 
jection, three  windows  wide,  flanked  by  two-storied 
open  loggias,  and  crowned  by  an  attic  with  ornamental 
pilasters  and  urns.  This  central  bay  is  adorned  with 
beautiful  wrought-iron  balconies,  which  are  repeated 
in  the  wings  at  each  end  of  the  building.  All  the 
wrought-iron  of  the  Villa  Visconti  is  remarkable  for 
its  elegance  and  originality,  and  as  used  on  the  ter- 
races, and  in  the  balustrade  of  the  state  staircase,  in 
combination  with  heavy  baroque  stone  balusters,  it  is  an 
interesting  example  of  a  peculiarly  Lombard  style  of 
decoration. 

Between  the  house  and  the  Naviglio  there  once  lay 
an  elsLhorate  _par/erre  dc  brodevie,  terminated  above  the 
canal  by  a  balustraded  retaining-wall  adorned  with  stat- 
ues, and  flanked  on  each  side  by  pleached  walks,  arbours, 
trellis-work  and  fish-ponds.     Of  this  complicated  plea- 

223 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 


IRON  GATES  OF  THE  VILLA   ALARIO 

(NOW   VISCONTI   DI   SALICETo) 


sance  little  remains  save  the  long  terraces  extending  from 
each  end  of  the  house,  the  old  flower-garden  below  one 
of  these,  and  some  bits  of  decorative  sculpture  incorpo- 
rated in  the  boundary- 
walls.  The  long  tank  or 
canal  shown  in  Del  Re's 
print  has  been  turned 
into  an  irregular  pond 
with  grass-banks,  and 
the  parterre  de  broderie 
is  now  a  lawn  ;  even  the 
balustrade  has  been  re- 
moved from  the  wall  along  the  Naviglio.  Still,  the  ar- 
chitectural details  of  the  forecourt  and  the  terraces  are 
worthy  of  careful  study,  and  the  unusual  beauty  of  the 
old  villa,  with  its  undisturbed  group  of  dependencies, 
partly  atones  for  the  loss  of  its  original  surroundings. 

Many  eighteenth-century  country  houses  in  the  style 
of  the  Villa  Visconti  are  scattered  through  the  Milanese, 
though  few  have  retained  so  unaltered  an  outline,  or 
even  such  faint  traces  of  their  formal  gardens.  The 
huge  villa  of  the  Duke  of  Modena  at  Varese  —  now  the 
Municipio  —  is  a  good  example  of  the  same  architecture, 
and  has  a  beautiful  stone-and-iron  balustrade  and  many 
wrought-iron  balconies  in  the  same  style  as  those  at 
Ccrnusco  ;  and  its  gardens,  ascending  the  hillside  behind 
the  house,  and  now  used  as  a  public  park,  must  once 
have  been  very  fine.     The  Grand  Hotel  of  Varese  is 

224 


LOMBARD    VILLAS 

also  an  old  villa,  and  its  architectural  screen  and  pro- 
jecting wings  form  an  unusually  characteristic  fagade  of 
the  same  period.  Here,  again,  little  remains  of  the  old 
garden  but  a  charming  upper  terrace ;  but  the  interior 
decorations  of  many  of  the  rooms  are  undisturbed,  and 
are  exceptionally  interesting  examples  of  the  more  deli- 
cate Italian  baroque. 

Another  famous  country  house,  Castellazzod'Arconate, 
at  Bollate,  is  even  more  palatial  than  the  Duke  of  Mo- 
dena's  villa  at  Varese,  and,  while  rather  heavy  in  general 
outline,  has  an  interesting  interior  fagade,  with  a  long 
arcade  resting  on  coupled  columns,  and  looking  out  over 
a  stately  courtyard  with  statues.  This  villa  is  said  to 
have  preserved  a  part  of  its  old  gardens,  but  it  is  difficult 
of  access,  and  could  not  be  visited  at  the  time  when  the 
material  for  these  chapters  was  collected. 


,q,V.,_V^ 


RAILING  OF  THE  VILLA  ALARIO 
22  c: 


VILLAS    OF    VENETIA 


VII 
VILLAS    OF   VENETIA 

WRITERS  on  Italian  architecture  have  hitherto 
paid  httle  attention  to  the  villa-architecture 
of  Venetia.  It  is  only  within  the  last  few 
years  that  English  and  American  critics  have  deigned 
to  recognize  any  architectural  school  in  Italy  later  than 
that  of  Vignola  and  Palladio,  and  even  these  two  great 
masters  of  the  sixteenth  century  have  been  held  up  as 
examples  of  degeneracy  to  a  generation  bred  in  the 
Ruskinian  code  of  art  ethics.  In  France,  though  the 
influence  of  Viollet-le-Duc  was  nearly  as  hostile  as 
Ruskin's  to  any  true  understanding  of  Italian  art,  the 
Latin  instinct  for  form  has  asserted  itself  in  a  revived 
study  of  the  classic  tradition;  but  French  writers  on 
architecture  have  hitherto  confined  themselves  chiefly  to 
the  investigation  of  their  national  styles. 

It  is  only  in  Germany  that  Italian  architecture  from 
Palladio  to  Juvara  has  received  careful  and  sympathetic 
study.  Burckhardt  pointed  the  way  in  his  "Cicerone" 
and  in  "  The  Architecture  of  the  Renaissance  in  Italy  "  ; 
Herr  Gustav  Ebe  followed  with  an  interesting  book  on 
the  late  Renaissance  throughout  Europe ;    and    Herr 

231 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

Gurlitt  has  produced  the  most  masterly  work  yet  writ- 
ten on  the  subject,  his  "  History  of  the  Baroque  Style 
in  Italy."  These  authors,  however,  having  to  work  in 
a  new  and  extensive  field,  have  necessarily  been  obliged 
to  restrict  themselves  to  its  most  important  divisions. 
Burckhardt's  invaluable  "  Renaissance  Architecture," 
though  full  of  critical  insight,  is  rather  a  collection  of 
memoranda  than  a  history  of  the  subject;  and  even 
Herr  Gurlitt,  though  he  goes  into  much  greater  detail, 
cannot  forsake  the  highroad  for  the  by-paths,  and  has 
consequently  had  to  pass  by  many  minor  ramifications 
of  his  subject.  This  is  especially  to  be  regretted  in  re- 
gard to  the  villa-architecture  of  Venetia,  the  interest  and 
individuality  of  which  he  fully  appreciates.  He  points 
out  that  the  later  Venetian  styles  spring  from  two 
sources,  the  schools  of  Palladio  and  of  Sansovino.  The 
former,  greatly  as  his  work  was  extolled,  never  had  the 
full  sympathy  of  the  Venetians.  His  art  was  too  pure 
and  severe  for  a  race  whose  taste  had  been  formed  on 
the  fantastic  mingling  of  Gothic  and  Byzantine  and  on 
the  glowing  decorations  of  the  greatest  school  of  colour- 
ists  the  world  has  known.  It  was  from  the  warm  and 
picturesque  art  of  Sansovino  and  Longhena  that  the 
Italian  baroque  naturally  developed ;  and  though  the 
authority  of  Palladio  made  itself  felt  in  the  official  archi- 
tecture of  Venetia,  its  minor  constructions,  especially 
the  villas  and  small  private  houses,  seldom  show  any 
trace  of  his  influence  save  in  the  grouping  of  their  win- 

232 


VILLAS    OF   VENETIA 

dows.  So  little  is  known  of  the  Venetian  villa-builders 
that  this  word  as  to  their  general  tendencies  must  replace 
the  exact  information  which  still  remains  to  be  gathered. 

]\Iany  delightful  examples  of  the  Venetian  niaison  de 
plaisance  are  still  to  be  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Padua  and  Treviso,  along  the  Brenta,  and  in  the  coun- 
try between  the  Euganeans  and  the  Monti  Berici.  Un- 
fortunately, in  not  more  than  one  or  two  instances  have 
the  old  gardens  of  these  houses  been  preserved  in  their 
characteristic  form;  and,  by  a  singular  perversity  of  fate, 
it  happens  that  the  villas  which  have  kept  their  gardens 
are  not  typical  of  the  Venetian  style.  One  of  them,  the 
castle  of  Cattajo,  at  Battaglia  in  the  Euganean  Hills, 
stands  in  fact  quite  apart  from  any  contemporary  style. 
This  extraordinary  edifice,  built  for  the  Obizzi  of  Venice 
about  1550,  is  said  to  have  been  copied  from  the  plans 
of  a  castle  in  Tartary  brought  home  by  Marco  Polo. 
It  shows,  at  any  rate,  a  deliberate  reversion,  in  mid- 
cinque-cento,  to  a  kind  of  Gothicism  which  had  become 
obsolete  in  northern  Italy  three  hundred  years  earlier ; 
and  the  mingling  of  this  rude  style  with  classic  detail 
and  Renaissance  sculpture  has  produced  an  effect  pic- 
turesque enough  to  justify  so  quaint  a  tradition. 

Cattajo  stands  on  the  edge  of  the  smiling  Euganean 
country,  its  great  fortress-like  bulk  built  up  against  a 
wooded  knoll  with  a  little  river  at  its  base.  Crossing 
the  river  by  a  bridge  flanked  by  huge  piers  surmounted 
with  statues,  one  reaches  a  portcullis  in  a  massive  gate- 

233 


rr  A  L I  A  N     VILLAS 

house,  also  adorned  with  statues.  The  portcuUis  opens 
on  a  long  narrow  court  planted  with  a  hedge  of  clipped 
euonymus  ;  and  at  one  end  a  splendid  balustraded  stair- 
way d  cordon  leads  up  to  a  flagged  terrace  with  yew- 
trees  growing  between  the  flags.  To  the  left  of  this 
terrace  is  a  huge  artificial  grotto,  with  a  stucco  Silenus 
lolling  on  an  elephant,  and  other  life-size  animals  and 
figures,  a  composition  recalling  the  zoological  wonders 
of  the  grotto  at  Castello.  This  Italian  reversion  to  the 
grotesque,  at  a  time  when  it  was  losing  its  fascination  for 
the  Northern  races,  might  form  the  subject  of  an  inter- 
esting study  of  race  aesthetics.  When  the  coarse  and 
sombre  fancy  of  mediaeval  Europe  found  expression  in 
grinning  gargoyles  and  baleful  or  buffoonish  images,  Ital- 
ian art  held  serenely  to  the  beautiful,  and  wove  the  most 
tragic  themes  into  a  labyrinth  of  lovely  lines;  but  in  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  when  the  classical 
graces  had  taken  possession  of  northern  Europe,  the 
chimerical  animals,  the  gnomes  and  goblins,  the  gar- 
goyles and  broomstick-riders,  fled  south  of  the  Alps,  and 
reappeared  in  the  queer  fauna  of  Italian  grottoes  and  in 
the  leering  dwarfs  and  satyrs  of  the  garden-walk. 

From  the  yew-tree  terrace  at  Cattajo  an  arcaded 
loggia  gives  access  to  the  interior  of  the  castle,  which  is 
a  bewilderment  of  low-storied  passageways  and  long 
flights  of  steps  hewn  in  the  rock  against  which  the 
castle  is  built.  From  a  vaulted  tunnel  of  stone  one 
passes  abruptly  into  a  suite  of  lofty  apartments  decorated 

234 


VILLAS    OF    VENETIA 

with  seventeenth-century  frescoes  and  opening  on  a 
balustraded  terrace  guarded  by  marble  divinities;  or, 
taking  another  turn,  one  finds  one's  self  in  a  sham 
Gothic  chapel  or  in  a  mediaeval  cJiemiri  de  roiide  on  the 
crenelated  walls.  This  fantastic  medley  of  styles,  in 
conjunction  with  the  unusual  site  of  the  castle,  has 
produced  several  picturesque  bits  of  garden,  wedged 
between  the  walls  and  the  hillside,  or  on  the  terraces 
overhanging  the  river ;  but  from  the  architectural  point 
of  view,  the  most  interesting  thing  about  Cattajo  is  the 
original  treatment  of  the  great  stairway  in  the  court. 

Six  or  seven  miles  from  Battaglia,  in  a  narrow  and 
fertile  valley  of  the  Euganeans,  lies  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  pleasure-grounds  in  Italy.  This  is  the  garden 
of  the  villa  at  Val  San  Zibio.  On  approaching  it,  one 
sees,  across  a  grassy  common,  a  stately  and  ornate 
arch  of  triumph  with  a  rusticated  fagade  and  a  broken 
pediment  enriched  with  statues.  This  arch,  which  looks 
as  though  it  were  the  principal  entrance-gate,  appears 
to  have  been  placed  in  the  high  boundary-wall  merely 
in  order  to  afford  from  the  highway  a  vista  of  the 
chdteau  d'emi  which  is  the  chief  feature  of  the  gardens. 
The  practice  of  breaking  the  wall  to  give  a  view  of 
some  special  point  in  the  park  or  garden  was  very  com- 
mon in  France,  but  is  seldom  seen  in  Italy,  though 
there  is  a  fine  instance  of  it  in  the  open  grille  below  the 
Villa  Aldobrandini  at  Frascati. 

The  house  at  Val  San  Zibio  is  built  with  its  back  to 

237 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

the  highroad,  and  is  an  unpretentious  structure  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  not  unHke  the  Villa  de'  Gori  at 
Siena,  though  the  Palladian  grouping  of  its  central  win- 
dows shows  the  nearness  of  \'enice.  It  looks  on  a"  ter- 
race enclosed  by  a  balustrade,  whence  a  broad  flight  of 
steps  descends  to  the  gently  sloping  gardens.  They 
are  remarkable  for  their  long  pleached  alleys  of  beech, 
their  wide  tapis  verts,  fountains,  marble  benches  and 
statues  charmingly  placed  in  niches  of  clipped  verdure. 
In  one  direction  is  a  little  lake,  in  another  a  "mount" 
crowned  by  a  statue,  while  a  long  alley  leads  to  a  well- 
preserved  maze  with  a  raised  platform  in  its  centre. 
These  labyrinths  are  now  rarely  found  in  Italian  gar- 
dens, and  were  probably  never  as  popular  south  of  the 
Alps  as  in  Holland  and  England.  The  long  chateau 
d'eaii,  with  its  couchant  Nereids  and  conch-blowing 
Tritons,  descends  a  gentle  slope  instead  of  a  steep  hill, 
and  on  each  side  high  beech-hedges  enclose  tall  groves 
of  deciduous  trees.  These  hedges  are  characteristic  of 
the  north  Italian  gardens,  where  the  plane,  beech  and 
elm  replace  the  "perennial  greens"  of  the  south;  and 
there  is  one  specially  charming  point  at  Val  San  Zibio, 
where  four  grass-alleys  walled  with  clipped  beeches 
converge  on  a  stone  basin  sunk  in  the  turf,  with  four 
marble  putti  seated  on  the  curb,  dangling  their  feet  in 
the  water.  An  added  touch  of  quaintness  is  given  to 
the  gardens  by  the  fact  that  the  old  water-works  are 
still  in  action,  so  that  the  unwary  visitor,  assailed  by 

238 


VILLAS    OF    VENETIA 

fierce  jets  of  spray  darting  up  at  him  from  the  terrace 
steps,  the  cracks  in  the  flagstones,  and  all  manner  of 
unexpected  ambushes,  may  form  some  idea  of  the 
aquatic  surprises  which  afforded  his  ancestors  such 
inexhaustible  amusement. 

There  are  few  gardens  in  Italy  comparable  with 
Val  San  Zibio  ;  but  in  Padua  there  is  one  of  another 
sort  which  has  kept  something  of  the  same  ancient 
savor.  This  is  the  famous  Botanic  Garden,  founded  in 
1545,  and  said  to  be  the  oldest  in  Italy.     The  accom- 


iUE  BOTANIC  GARDEN   OF  PADUA 


239 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

panying  plan,  though  roughly  sketched  from  memory, 
will  give  some  idea  of  its  arrangement.  Outside  is  a 
grove  of  exotic  trees,  which  surrounds  a  large  circular 
space  enclosed  in  a  beautiful  old  brick  wall  surmounted 
by  a  marble  balustrade  and  adorned  alternately  with 
busts  and  statues.  The  wall  is  broken  by  four  gate- 
ways, one  forming  the  principal  entrance  from  the 
grove,  the  other  three  opening  on  semicircles  in  which 
statues  are  set  against  a  background  of  foliage.  In  the 
garden  itself  the  beds  for  "  simples  "  are  enclosed  in  low- 
iron  railings,  within  which  they  are  again  subdivided  by 
stone  edgings,  each  subdivision  containing  a  different 
species  of  plant. 

Padua,  in  spite  of  its  flat  surroundings,  is  one  of  the 
most  picturesque  cities  of  upper  Italy ;  and  the  seeker 
after  gardens  will  find  many  charming  bits  along  the 
narrow  canals,  or  by  the  sluggish  river  skirting  the  city 
walls.  Indeed,  one  might  almost  include  in  a  study  of 
gardens  the  beautiful  Prato  della  Valle,  the  public 
square  before  the  church  of  Santa  Giustina,  with  its  en- 
circling canal  crossed  by  marble  bridges,  its  range  of 
baroque  statues  of  "worthies,"  and  its  central  expanse 
of  turf  and  trees.  There  is  no  other  example  in  Italy 
of  a  sc^uare  laid  out  in  this  park-like  way,  and  the  Prato 
della  Valle  would  form  an  admirable  model  for  the  treat- 
ment of  open  spaces  in  a  modern  city. 

A  few  miles  from  Padua,  at  Ponte  di  Brenta,  begins 
the  long  line  of  villas  which  follows  the  course  of  the 

240 


41 
If 


'mm\  m 


VAL     SAN      ZIBIO 


VILLAS    OF    VENETIA 

river  to  its  outlet  at  Fusina.  Dante  speaks  in  the  "In- 
ferno "  of  the  villas  and  castles  on  the  Brenta,  and  it 
continued  the  favourite  villeggiatura  of  the  Venetian 
nobility  till  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  There 
dwelt  the  Signor  Pococurante,  whom  Candide  visited  on 
his  travels ;  and  of  flesh-and-blood  celebrities  many 
might  be  cited,  from  the  famous  Procuratore  Pisani  to 
Byron,  who  in  1819  carried  off  the  Guiccioli  to  his 
villa  at  La  Mira  on  the  Brenta. 

The  houses  still  remain  almost  line  for  line  as  they 
were  drawn  in  Gianfrancesco  Costa's  admirable  etch- 
ings, "Le  Delizie  del  Fiume  Brenta,"  published  in  1750; 
but  unfortunately  almost  all  the  old  gardens  have  dis- 
appeared. One,  however,  has  been  preserved,  and  as 
it  is  the  one  most  often  celebrated  by  travellers  and 
poets  of  the  eighteenth  century,  it  may  be  regarded  as 
a  good  example  of  a  stately  Venetian  garden.  This  is 
the  great  villa  built  at  Stra,  in  1736,  for  Alvise  Pisani, 
procurator  of  St.  Mark's,  by  the  architects  Prati  and 
Frigimelica.  In  size  and  elegance  it  far  surpasses  any 
other  house  on  the  Brenta.  The  prevailing  note  of  the 
other  villas  is  one  of  simplicity  and  amenity.  They 
stand  near  each  other,  either  on  the  roadside  or  divided 
from  it  by  a  low  wall  bordered  with  statues  and  a 
short  strip  of  garden,  also  thickly  peopled  with  nymphs, 
satyrs,  shepherdesses,  and  the  grotesque  and  comic 
figures  of  the  Commedia  dell'  Arte ;  unassuming  vil- 
lini  for  the  most  part,  suggesting  a  life  of  suburban 

243 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

neighbourliness  and  sociability.  But  the  Villa  Pisani  is 
a  palace.  Its  majestic  fagade,  with  pillared  central  corps 
de  bdtmient  and  far-reaching  wings,  stands  on  the  high- 
way bordering  the  Brenta ;  behind  are  the  remains  of 
the  old  formal  gardens,  and  on  each  side,  the  park 
extends  along  the  road,  from  which  it  is  divided  by  a 

high  wall  and  several  im- 
posing gateways.  The 
palace  is  built  about  two 
inner  courts,  and  its  in- 
numerable rooms  are  fres- 
coed by  the  principal 
Italian  decorative  painters 
of  the  day,  while  the  great 
central  saloon  has  one 
of  Tiepolo's  most  riotously  splendid  ceilings.  Fortu- 
nately for  the  preservation  of  these  treasures,  Stra,  after 
being  the  property  of  Eugene  Beauharnais,  was  ac- 
quired by  the  Italian  government,  and  is  now  a  "  villa 
nazionale,"  well  kept  up  and  open  to  the  public. 

In  the  etching  of  Costa,  an  elaborate  formal  garden 
with  parterres  de  broderie  is  seen  to  extend  from  the 
back  of  the  villa  to  the  beautifully  composed  stables 
which  face  it.  This  garden  has  unfortunately  been  re- 
placed by  a  level  meadow,  flanked  on  both  sides  by 
boschi,  with  long  straight  walks  piercing  the  dense  green 
leafage  of  elm,  beech  and  lime.  Here  and  there  frag- 
ments of  <:ardcn-architccturc  ha\c  survived  the  evident 


GATEWAY— VILLA  PISANI,  STRA 


244 


VILLAS    OF    VENETIA 

attempt  to  convert  the  grounds  into  a  jardin  anglais  of 
the  sentimental  type.  There  is  still  a  maze,  with  a  fan- 
ciful little  central  tower  ascended  by  winding  stairs  ; 
there  is  a  little  wooded  "  mount,"  with  a  moat  about  it, 
and  a  crowning  temple ;  and  there  are  various  charm- 
ing garden-pavilions,  orangeries,  gardeners'  houses,  and 
similar  small  constructions,  all  built  in  the  airy  and  ro- 
mantic style  of  which  the  Italian  villa-architect  had  not 
yet  lost  the  secret.  Architecturally,  however,  the  stables 
are  perhaps  the  most  interesting  buildings  at  Stra.  Their 
classical  central  fagade  is  flanked  by  two  curving  wings, 
forming  charmingly  proportioned  lemon-houses,  and  in 
the  stables  themselves  the  stalls  are  sumptuously  di- 
vided by  columns  of  red  marble,  each  surmounted  by 
the  gilded  effigy  of  a  horse. 

From  Stra  to  Fusina  the  shores  of  the  Brenta  are 
lined  with  charming  pleasure-houses,  varying  in  size 
from  the  dignified  villa  to  the  little  garden-pavilion,  and 
all  full  of  interest  and  instruction  to  the  student  of  villa- 
architecture  ;  but  unhappily  no  traces  of  their  old  gar- 
dens remain,  save  the  statues  which  once  peopled  the 
parterres  and  surmounted  the  walls.  Several  of  the 
villas  are  attributed  to  Palladio,  but  only  one  is  really 
typical  of  his  style :  the  melancholy  Malcontenta,  built 
by  the  Foscari,  and  now  standing  ruinous  and  deserted 
in  a  marshy  field  beside  the  river. 

The  Malcontenta  has  all  the  chief  characteristics  of 
Palladio's  manner:  the  high  basement,  the  projecting 

245 


ITALIAN     VILLAS 

pillared  portico,  the  general  air  of  classical  correctness, 
which  seems  a  little  cold  beside  the  bright  and  graceful 
\'illa-architecture  of  Venetia.  Burckhardt,  with  his  usual 
discernment,  remarks  in  this  connection  that  it  was  a 
fault  of  Palladio's  to  substitute  for  the  recessed  loggia 
of  the  Roman  villa  a  projecting  portico,  thus  sacrificing 
one  of  the  most  characteristic  and  original  features  of 
the  Italian  country  house  to  a  not  particularly  appro- 
priate adaptation  of  the  Greek  temple  porch. 

But  Palladio  was  a  great  artist,  and  if  he  was  great 
in  his  civic  architecture  rather  than  in  his  country 
houses,  if  his  stately  genius  lent  itself  rather  to  the 
grouping  of  large  masses  than  to  the  construction  of 
pretty  toys,  yet  his  most  famous  villa  is  a  distinct  and 
original  contribution  to  the  chief  examples  of  the  Italian 
pleasure-house.  The  Villa  Capra,  better  known  as  the 
Rotonda,  which  stands  on  a  hill  above  Vicenza,  has 
been  criticized  for  having  four  fronts  instead  of  one  front, 
two  sides  and  a  back.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  square  building 
with  a  projecting  Ionic  portico  on  each  face  —  a  plan 
open  to  the  charge  of  monotony,  but  partly  justified  in 
this  case  by  the  fact  that  the  house  is  built  on  the  sum- 
mit of  a  knoll  from  which  there  are  four  \'iews,  all 
equally  pleasing,  and  each  as  it  were  entitled  to  the 
distinction  of  having  a  loggia  to  itself.  Still,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  neither  in  the  Rotonda  nor  in  his  other  villas 
did  Palladio  hit  on  a  style  half  as  appropriate  or  pleas- 
ing as  the  typical  manner  of  the  Roman  \'illa-architects, 

246 


VILLAS    OF    VENETIA 

with  its  happy  minghng  of  freedom  and  classicaHsm,  its 
wonderful  adaptation  to  dimate  and  habits  of  life,  its 
capricious  grace  of  detail,  and  its  harmony  with  the 
garden-architecture  which  was  designed  to  surround  it. 

The  Villa  Capra  has  not  preserved  its  old  gardens, 
and  at  the  Villa  Giacomelli,  at  Maser,  Palladio's  other 
famous  country  house,  the  grounds  have  been  so  mod- 
ernized and  stripped  of  all  their  characteristic  features 
that  it  is  difficult  to  judge  of  their  original  design  ;  but 
one  feels  that  all  Palladio's  rural  architecture  lacked 
that  touch  of  fancy  and  freedom  which,  in  the  Roman 
school,  facilitated  the  transition  of  manner  from  the 
house  to  the  garden-pavilion,  and  from  the  paviHon  to 
the  half-rustic  grotto  and  the  woodland  temple. 

The  Villa  Valmarana,  also  at  Vicenza,  on  the  Monte 
Berico,  not  far  from  the  Rotonda,  has  something  of  the 
intimate  charm  lacking  in  the  latter.  The  low  and 
simply  designed  house  is  notable  only  for  the  charming 
frescoes  with  which  Tiepolo  adorned  its  rooms  ;  but  the 
beautiful  loggia  in  the  garden  is  attributed  to  Palladio, 
and  this,  together  with  the  old  beech-alleys,  the  charm- 
ing frescoed  fountain,  the  garden-wall  crowned  by 
Venetian  grotesques,  forms  a  composition  of  excep- 
tional picturesqueness. 

The  beautiful  country-side  between  Vicenza  and  Ve- 
rona is  strewn  with  old  villas,  many  of  which  would 
doubtless  repay  study ;  but  there  are  no  gardens  of 
note  in  this  part  of  Veneto,  except  the  famous  Giusti 

249 


ITALIAN    VILLAS 

gardens  at  Verona,  probably  better  known  to  sight- 
seers than  any  others  in  northern  Italy.  In  spite  of  all 
their  charm,  however,  the  dusky  massing  of  their  old 
cypresses,  and  their  winding  walks  along  the  cliff-side, 
the  Giusti  gardens  preserve  few  traces  of  their  original 
design,  and  are  therefore  not  especially  important  to 
the  student  of  Italian  garden-architecture.  More  inter- 
esting in  this  connection  is  the  Villa  Cuzzano,  about  seven 
miles  from  Verona,  a  beautiful  old  house  standing  above 
a  terrace-garden  planted  with  an  elaborate  parterre  de 
broderie.  Behind  the  villa  is  a  spacious  court  bounded 
by  a  line  of  low  buildings  with  a  central  chapel.  The 
interior  of  the  house  has  been  little  changed,  and  is  an 
interesting  example  of  north  Italian  villa  planning  and 
decoration.  The  passion  of  the  Italian  architects  for 
composition  and  continuity  of  design  is  seen  in  the 
careful  placing  of  the  chapel,  which  is  exactly  on  an 
axis  with  the  central  saloon  of  the  villa,  so  that,  stand- 
ing in  the  chapel,  one  looks  across  the  court,  through 
this  lofty  saloon,  and  out  on  the  beautiful  hilly  landscape 
beyond.  It  was  by  such  means  that  the  villa-architects 
obtained,  with  simple  materials  and  in  a  limited  space, 
impressions  of  distance,  and  sensations  of  the  unex- 
pected, for  which  one  looks  in  vain  in  the  haphazard 
and  slipshod  designs  of  the  present  day. 


250 


LIST   OF   BOOKS   MENTIONED 


Gianfrancesco  Costa 
Giovanni  Falda 
Peter  Paul  Rubens 
Rafaello  Soprani 


Giuseppe  Zocchi 


ITALIAN 

Le  Dclizic  del  Fiunie  Brenta.      1750. 

Giardiiii  di  Roma.     N.  d. 

Palazzi  di  GcJiova.     1622. 

Vite  de'  Pittori,  Sctiltoj'i  ed  Architetti  Geno- 

vesi.      (Second  edition,   revised,  enlarged 

and  supplied  with  notes  by  C.  G.  Ratti. 

1768.) 
Vediite  dclle  Ville  e  d'altri  liioghi  della  Tos- 

caiia.      1 744. 


Le  President  de  Brosses 

L.  Dussieux 

Michel  de  Montaigne 

Percier  et  Fontaine 

Marc  Antonio  del  Re 

Georges  Riat 
Eugene  Emmanuel 

Viollet-le-Duc 


FRENCH 

Lettrcs  Familieres  ecrites  d'ltalie  en    1739 

et  1740. 
Artistes  Fraiifais  a  l' Etranger. 
Journal  du  Voyage  en  Italie  par  la  Suisse  et 

rAllemagne  en  ie,&o  et  1 581. 
Choix  des  plus    celebres   Maisons   de  Plai- 

sance  de  Rome  et  de  ses  Environs.      1809. 
Maisons  de  Plaisance  de   I'Etat  de  Milan. 

Milan,  1743. 
L' Art  des  Jardins.     N.  d. 
Dictionnaire     Raisonne     de     I' Architecture 

Fran  false.      1858. 


251 


LIST    OF    BOOKS    MENTIONED 

GERMAN 

Jacob  Burckhardt  Der  Cicerone.      1901. 

"  "  Geschichte  der  Renaissance  in  Italien.     1891. 

Josef  Dunn  Die  Baustile :    Die   Bauktmst  der  Renais- 

sance in  Italien.      1903. 
Gustav  Ebe  Die  Spatrcnaissance.      1 886. 

Cornelius  Gurlitt  Geschichte  des  Barockstils  in  Italien.     1887. 

W.  C.  Tuckermann  Die   Gartenkunst  der  Italienischen  Renais- 

saiice-Zeit.      1 884. 


Michael  Bryan 


G.  Burnet,  D.D., 
Bishop  of  Salisbury. 

John  Evelyn 


ENGLISH 

Dictionary  of  Painters  and  Engravers,  bio- 
graphical and  critical.  Revised  and  en- 
larged by  Robert  Edmund  Graves,  B.A., 
1886. 

Some  Letters,  containing  an  Account  of 
what  seemed  most  remarkable  in  Switzer- 
land, Italy,  etc.      1686. 

Diary,  1644. 


252 


ARCHITECTS    AND    LANDSCAPE- 
GARDENERS    MENTIONED 

ALESSI    (GALEAZZO) 
1512-1572 

Though  Alessi  was  a  native  of  Perugia  his  best-known  buildings 
were  erected  in  Genoa.  Among  them  are  the  Villa  Pallavicini  alle 
Peschiere,  the  Villa  Imperiali  (now  Scassi),  the  Villa  Giustiniani  (now 
Cambiaso),  the  Palazzo  Parodi,  the  public  granaries,  and  the  church 
of  the  Madonna  di  Carignano.  He  also  laid  out  the  Strada  Nuova 
in  Genoa.  His  chief  works  in  other  places  are :  the  Palazzo  Marin 
(now  the  Municipio)  in  Milan;  the  Palazzo  Antinori,  and  the  front  of 
the  church  of  S.  Maria  del  Popolo  at  Perugia ;  and  the  church  of  the 
Madonna  degli  Angeli  near  Assisi. 

ALGARDI    (ALESSANDRO) 

1602-1654 

Algardi,  a  Bolognese  architect,  was  also  distinguished  as  an  engraver 
and  sculptor,  and  was  noted  for  his  figures  of  children.  He  built  the 
Villa  Belrespiro  or  Pamphily  on  the  Janiculan,  and  the  Villa  Sauli, 
both  in  Rome. 

AMMANATI    (BARTOLOMMEO) 
1511-1592 

Ammanati,  the  pupil  of  Bandinelli  and  Sansovino,  was  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  Florentine  architects  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
was  also  noted  for  his  garden-sculpture.      In  Florence   some  of  his 

253 


ARCHITECTS     AND     LANDSCAPE- 

best  work  is  seen  in  the  Boboli  garden  and  in  the  court  of  the  Pa- 
lazzo Pitti,  while  the  bridge  of  the  S.  Trinita  is  considered  his  master- 
piece. In  Rome  he  built  the  fine  fa9ades  of  the  Palazzo  Ruspoli 
and  of  the  Collegio  Romano.  The  rusticated  loggia  of  the  Villa  Fonte 
air  Erta  is  ascribed  to  him. 

BERNINI    (GIOVANNI    LORENZO) 
1598-1680 

Bernini,  a  Neapolitan  by  birth,  was  the  greatest  Italian  architect  and 
sculptor  of  the  seventeeth  century.  One  of  his  masterpieces  in  archi- 
tecture is  the  church  of  S.  Andrea  al  Noviziato  on  the  Quirinal,  and 
among  his  other  works  in  Rome  are :  the  piazza  and  colonnade  of  St. 
Peter's,  the  Scala  Regia  in  the  Vatican,  the  Palazzo  di  Monte  Citorio, 
and  the  fountains  of  Trevi  and  the  Tritone ;  at  Pistoja  the  Villa  Ros- 
pigliosi,  at  Terni  the  cathedral,  and  at  Ravenna  the  Porta  Nuova. 

BORROMINI    (FRANCESCO) 
1599-1667 

Borromini,  a  pupil  of  Maderna,  was,  next  to  Bernini,  the  most  original 
and  brilliant  exponent  of  baroque  architecture  in  Italy.  He  was  born 
in  Lombardy,  but  worked  principally  in  Rome.  Among  his  best- 
known  buildings  are  the  church  of  St.  Agnes  on  the  Piazza  Navona, 
that  of  San  Carlo  alle  quattro  fontane,  and  the  College  of  the  Propa- 
ganda Fide.  In  conjunction  with  Bernini  and  Maderna,  he  built  the 
Palazzo  Barberini  in  Rome.  Some  of  his  best  work  is  seen  in  the 
Villa  Falconieri  at  P'rascati. 

BRAMANTE    (DONATO) 
1444-1514 

Bramante  was  born  at  Urbino,  but  executed  all  his  early  work  in 
Milan,  producing  the  church  of  S.  Maria  delle  Grazie,  the  Ospedale 
Maggiore,  and  the  sacristy  of  San  Satiro,  which  he  not  only  built,  but 
decorated  internally.  In  Lombardy  the  early  Renaissance  of  building 
is  called  the  Bramantesque  style.  Bramante's  works  in  Rome  are :  the 
Tempietto  of  San  Pietro  in  Montorio,  the  palace  of  the  Cancelleria,  a 
part  of  the  Vatican,  and  a  part  of  the  Palazzo  di  San  Biagio. 


GARDENERS    MENTIONED 

BROWN    (LANCELOT) 

1715-1783 
Lancelot  Brown,  known  as  "Capability  Brown,"  a  native  of  North- 
umberland, began  his  career  in  a  kitchen-garden,  but,  though  without 
artistic  training  and  unable  to  draw,  he  became  for  a  time  a  popular 
designer  of  landscape-gardens.  He  was  appointed  Royal  Gardener  at 
Hampton  Court,  and  laid  out  the  lake  at  Blenheim.  He  was  consid- 
ered to  excel  in  water-gardens. 

BUONTALENTI    (BERNARDO    TIMANTE) 
1 5 36-1 608 

Buontalenti,  one  of  the  leading  Florentine  architects  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  was  also  distinguished  as  a  sculptor  and  painter.  He  built 
the  villa  of  Pratolino  and  carried  on  the  planning  of  the  Boboli  gar- 
den. His  other  works  in  Florence  are :  the  facades  of  the  Palazzi 
Strozzi  and  Riccardi,  the  Palazzo  Acciajuoli  (now  Corsini),  the  corridor 
leading  from  the  Uffizi  to  the  Pitti  Palace,  and  the  casino  behind 
San  Marco.  At  Siena,  Buontalenti  built  the  Palazzo  Reale,  and 
at  Pisa,  the  Loggia  de'  Banchi. 

CAMPORESI    (PIETRO) 
B. ,  d.  1 781 

Camporesi,  a  Roman  architect,  is  mentioned  as  working  with  "  Moore 
of  Rome  "  on  the  grounds  of  the  Villa  Borghese. 

CARLONE 

Several  brothers  of  this  name  lived  in  Genoa  between  1550  and  1650. 
They  were  known  as  sculptors,  painters  and  gilders,  and  workers  in 
stucco.  The  beautiful  ceiling  of  the  church  of  the  Santissima  An- 
nunziata  in  Genoa  is  known  to  be  by  one  of  the  Carloni. 

CASTELLI    (CARLO) 
XVH  Century 

Castelli,  who  completed  the  fafade  of  Santa  Maria  alia  Porta,  in 
Milan,  was  an  architect  of  the  school  of  Maderna.  With  Crivelli  he 
laid  out  the  gardens  of  the  Isola  Bella,  near  Como. 


ARCHITECTS     AND     LANDSCAPE- 

CASTELLO    (GIOVANNI     BATTISTA) 

CALLED  IL  BERGAMASCO 
1 509- 1  5 79 
Giovanni  Castelio  of  Bergamo  was  a  pupil  of  Alessi's  and  distin- 
guished himself  in  fresco-painting  and  sculpture.  In  Genoa  he  re- 
modelled the  Palazzo  Pallavicini  (now  Cataldi)  and  built  the  Palazzo 
Imperiali.  Soprani  ("  Vite  de'  Pittori,  Scultori  ed  Architetti  Geno- 
vesi  ")  says  that  II  Bergamasco  was  court-architect  to  Philip  II  of 
Spain  and  worked  on  the  Escorial.  Bryan,  in  his  Dictionary  of 
Painters  and  Engravers,  states  that  II  Bergamasco  was  employed  on 
the  Prado  by  Charles  V,  while  his  son  worked  for  Philip  II. 

CRIVELLI 
XVII  Century 

This  landscape-gardener  worked  with  Carlo  Castelli  on  the  grounds 
of  the  Isola  Bella,  near  Como. 

FERRI    (ANTONIO) 
XVII  Century 

Ferri,  a  Florentine  architect,  built  the  Villa  Corsini  near  Florence,  and 
remodelled  the  Palazzo  Corsini  on  the  Lungarno. 

FONTANA  (CARLO) 
1634-1714 
Fontana,  one  of  the  most  versatile  and  accomplished  architects  of  his 
day,  was  born  at  Bruciato,  near  Milan.  He  was  called  to  Rome  as 
architect  of  St.  Peter's,  and  collaborated  with  Bernini  on  several 
occasions.  In  Rome  he  built  the  palace  of  Monte  Citorio,  the  fafade 
of  San  Marcello,  and  the  Palazzo  Torlonia.  As  a  villa-architect  his 
most  famous  creation  is  the  Garden  Palace  of  Prince  Liechtenstein  in 
Vienna.  He  built  the  palace  on  the  Isola  Bella,  and  the  Villa  Chigi, 
at  Cetinale,  near  Siena,  is  also  attributed  to  him.  He  was  the  author 
of  works  on  the  Vatican  and  on  the  antiquities  of  Rome. 

FONTANA    (GIOVANNI) 
1546-1614 

Giovanni   Fontana,   of  Melide,   near  Lugano,  excelled   in  everything 
relating   to   hydraulic    work.     At    the   Villa  Borghese  in  Rome,  and 

256 


GARDENERS    MENTIONED 

in  the  principal  villas  at  Frascati  (Aldobrandini,  Taverna,  Mondragone), 
he  introduced  original  designs  for  the  waterworks.  In  Rome  he  built 
the  Palazzi  Giustiniani  and  de'  Gori,  and  made  the  design  for  the 
Fontana  dell'  Acqua  Paola,  though  he  did  not  live  to  carry  it  out. 

FRIGIMELICA    (COUNT    GIROLAMO) 

XVIII  Century 

Count  Frigimelica,  an  accomplished  Venetian  nobleman,  built  the 
church  of  S.  Gaetano  at  Vicenza,  and  collaborated  with  Prati  in  the 
construction  of  the  Villa  Pisani  at  Stra. 

JUVARA    (FILIPPO) 

1685-1735 

Juvara,  the  most  original  and  interesting  Italian  architect  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  was  a  pupil  of  Carlo  Fontana's.  His  most  important 
work  is  the  church  of  the  Superga  near  Turin,  and  his  principal  build- 
ings are  found  in  or  near  Turin :  among  them  being  the  hunting-lodge 
of  Stupinigi  and  the  churches  of  Santa  Cristina  and  Santa  Maria  in 
Carmine.  The  church  of  San  Filippo  in  Turin  was  rebuilt  by  Juvara, 
and  the  royal  villa  at  Rivoli,  as  well  as  other  villas  in  the  environs 
of  Turin,  show  his  hand.  He  remodelled  the  Palazzo  Madama  in 
Rome ;  at  Lucca  he  finished  the  Palazzo  Reale ;  at  Mantua  the  dome 
on  the  church  of  S.  Andrea  is  by  him,  and  in  Lisbon  and  Madrid, 
respectively,  he  built  the  royal  palaces. 

LE    NOTRE    (ANDRE) 
161 3-1 700 

Le  Notre,  the  greatest  of  French  landscape-gardeners,  first  studied 
painting  under  Simon  Vouet,  together  with  Mignard,  Lebrun  and 
Lesueur,  then  succeeded  his  father  as  superintendent  of  the  royal 
gardens.  Among  his  great  works  are  the  gardens  at  Vaux-le-Vicomte, 
at  Sceaux,  at  Chantilly,  and  the  cascades  and  park  at  Saint-Cloud. 
The  park  of  Versailles,  the  gardens  of  the  Trianon,  of  Clagny  and 
of  Marly,  are  considered  his  masterpieces.  When  he  visited  Italy 
he  remodelled  the  grounds  of  the  Villa  Ludovisi.  He  was  fre- 
quently consulted  by  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  and  other  notable 
foreigners. 

257 


ARCHITECTS     AND     LANDSCAPE- 

LIGORIO    (PIRRO) 

1493-1580 

Ligorio,  the  Neapolitan  architect,  was  also  distinguished  as  antiquary, 
sculptor  and  engineer;  he  worked  much  in  sgraffiti.  He  built  the 
beautiful  Villa  Pia  in  the  Vatican  gardens,  and  the  Villa  d'Este  at 
Tivoli,  and  made  additions  to  the  Vatican.  The  Library  in  Turin 
possesses  his  numerous  manuscripts,  some  of  which  have  been  pub- 
lished. His  best-known  works  are  "An  Attempt  to  Restore  Ancient 
Rome"  and  "The  Restoration  of  Hadrian's  Villa,"  the  plates  for  which 
were  engraved  on  copper  by  Francesco  Contini  in  1751. 

LIPPI    (ANNIBALE) 

B. ,  d.  1581 

Lippi  is  generally  said  to  have  been  the  son  of  Nanni  di  Baccio  Bigio, 
the  architect  and  sculptor,  though  some  biographers  declare  them  to 
have  been  the  same  person.  Assuming  Lippi  to  have  had  a  separate 
identity,  only  two  of  his  works  are  known :  the  church  of  S.  Maria  di 
Loreto,  near  Spoleto,  and  the  Villa  Medici  in  Rome.  His  fame  rests 
on  the  latter,  which  became  the  model  of  the  Roman  viaison  de 
plaisance. 

LONGHENA    (BALDASSARE) 
1 604-1 682 

Longhena,  the  most  distinguished  architect  of  the  late  Renaissance  in 
Venetia,  gave  all  his  time  and  work  to  his  native  city.  Among  the 
buildings  he  erected  there  are  :  S.  Maria  della  Salute,  S.  Maria  ai  Scalzi, 
the  Ospedaletto,  the  cloister  and  staircase  in  San  Giorgio  Maggiore, 
the  Palazzo  Pesaro,  and  the  Palazzo  Rezzonico  (now  Zelinsky). 

LUNGHI    OR    LONGHI    (MARTINO)    THE    ELDER 
XVI  Century 

Lunghi,  born  at  Viggiii  in  the  Milanese,  in  the  second  half  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  built  the  Villa  Mondragone  at  Frascati,  in 
1567,  for  Cardinal  Marco  d'Altemps.  Tiie  villa  was  enlarged  by 
Gregory  VH,  and  later  by  Paul  V  and  his  nephew,  Cardinal  Scipione 
Borghese. 

258 


GARDENERS     MENTIONED 

MARCHIONNE    (CARLO) 
1 704-1 780 

Marchionne  was  the  architect  of  the  Villa  Albani  near  Rome,  built 
in  1746. 

MICHELANGELO   (SIMONE  BUONARROTI) 
1475-1564 

The  great  architect,  sculptor  and  painter,  was  born  in  Florence,  where 
he  built  the  Laurentian  Library  and  the  chapel  of  S.  Lorenzo,  with 
the  cupola  of  the  sacristy.  In  Rome  he  built  the  Palazzo  de'  Con- 
servatorii  on  the  Capitoline  hill,  the  cornice  of  the  Palazzo  Farnese, 
the  Porta  del  Popolo  and  the  Porta  Pia.  His  model  for  the  dome  of 
St.  Peter's  was  carried  out  except  as  to  the  lantern.  Tradition  assigns 
to  him  the  Villa  ai  Collazzi  (now  Bombicci)  near  Florence. 

MONTORSOLI    (FRA    GIOVANNI    ANGELO) 
1507-1563 

Fra  Giovanni  Montorsoli,  a  Florentine  monk  of  the  Servite  Order,  was 
a  sculptor,  and  studied  under  Michelangelo.  He  was  early  called  to 
Genoa,  where  he  decorated  the  church  of  San  Matteo  (the  church  of 
the  Doria  family)  and  built  the  famous  villa  in  the  harbour  for  the 
Admiral  Andrea  Doria.  The  Villa  Imperiali,  at  San  Fruttuoso,  near 
Genoa,  is  also  attributed  to  Montorsoli.  One  of  his  best  works  is  the 
high  altar  in  the  church  of  the  Servi  at  Bologna. 

MOORE    (JACOB) 

1 740-1 793 
Moore,  a  Scotch  landscape-painter  —  known  as  "Moore  of  Rome"  — 
was  patronized  by  Prince    Borghese,  and  remodelled  the  grounds   of 
the  Villa  Borghese  in  the  style  of  the  jardin  anglais. 

MORA 

XVII  Century 

A  Roman  engineer  of  the  name  built  some  of  the  waterworks  on  the 
Isola  Bella,  near  Como,  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

NOLLI    (ANTONIO) 

XVIII  Century 

Nolli  laid  out  the  grounds  of  the  Villa  Albani  near  Rome,  in  1746. 


ARCHITECTS     AND     LANDSCAPE- 

NOLLI    (PIETRO) 
XVIII    Century 

Pietro  Nolli  is  also  mentioned  as  one  of  the  landscape-gardeners  who 
laid  out  the  Villa  Albani. 

OLIVIER!    (ORAZIO)    OF   TIVOLI 
XVI    Century 

Olivieri  was  employed  as  an  engineer  of  the  waterworks  at  the  Villa 
d'Este  at  Tivoli  and  the  Villa  Aldobrandini  at  Frascati. 

PALLADIO    (ANDREA) 
1 508-1 5 So 

Palladio,  the  great  Venetian  architect,  was  born  at  Vicenza.  He 
turned  the  development  of  Italian  Renaissance  architecture  in  the 
direction  of  pure  classicalism,  and  was  a  master  of  proportion  in  build- 
ing. At  Vicenza  he  rebuilt  the  Sala  della  Ragione,  and  built  the 
Palazzi  Tiene  and  Valmarana  and  the  Teatro  Olimpico ;  while  the 
Villa  Capra  or  Rotonda,  near  Vicenza,  is  his  work,  and  also  the  Villa 
Giacomelli  at  Maser.  In  Venice  he  erected  the  churches  of  San 
Giorgio'  Maggiore  and  II  Redentore,  also  the  Villa  Malcontenta  near 
Fusina  on  the  Brenta.  Palladio  published  a  "  Treatise  on  Archi- 
tecture "  and  "The  Antiquities  of  Rome." 

PARIGI    (GIULIO) 
B.  ,  d.   1635 

Parigi  was  a  Florentine  architect,  engineer  and  designer.  As  far  as  is 
known,  he  worked  entirely  in  Florence  and  its  environs.  He  is  the 
architect  of  the  court  and  arcade  of  Poggio  Imperiale,  the  cloister  of 
S.  Agostino,  the  Palazzo  Marucelli  (now  Fenci),  the  Palazzo  Scarlatti, 
and  a  part  of  the  Uffizi. 

PERUZZI    (BALDASSARE) 
1481-1537 

Peruzzi,  who  was  both  architect  and  painter,  divided  his  time  between 
Rome  and  Siena,  where  he  was  born.     He   built  the  Villa  Vicobello 

260 


GARDENERS    MENTIONED 

near  Siena,  as  well  as  that  of  Belcaro.  The  well-known  Palazzo 
Massimi  alia  Colonne  in  Rome  is  his  work,  also  the  Villa  Trivulzio 
near  Rome. 

PIRANESI    (GIOVANNI    BATTISTA) 
1720-1778 

Piranesi,  the  famous  Venetian  etcher  and  engraver,  was  specially 
noted  for  his  etchings  of  famous  buildings,  and  has  been  called  "  The 
Rembrandt  of  Architecture."  He  was  also  an  architect,  and  worked 
on  the  church  of  S.  Maria  del  Popolo  in  Rome.  While  there  he 
also  remodelled  the  chapel  of  the  Priory  of  the  Knights  of  Malta,  and 
probably  laid  out  the  grounds.  Piranesi  published  over  twenty  folio 
volumes  of  engravings  and  etchings. 

PONZIO    (FLAMINIO) 

1575-1620 

Ponzio,  a  Lombard  architect,  built  the  loggia  of  the  Villa  Mondragone 

at  Frascati,  and  the  Palazzo  Sciarra,  and  finished  the  Borghese  Chapel 

in  the  church  of  S.  Maria  Maggiore  in  Rome. 

PORTA    (GIACOMO    BELLA) 
1541-1604 

Delia  Porta,  a  Milanese  architect,  was  a  pupil  of  Vignola's.  His  great 
work  was  the  finishing  of  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's  in  Rome,  in  doing 
which  he  followed  Michelangelo's  plan,  but  improved  the  curve.  His 
other  works  in  Rome  were :  the  churches  of  II  Gesu,  S.  Luigi  de' 
Francesi,  S.  Catarina  de'  Funari,  the  Palazzo  Paluzzi,  the  fa9ade  of 
the  Palazzo  Chigi,  the  famous  fountains  in  the  Piazza  d'Araceli  and 
the  Piazza  Navona  (for  which  Bernini  supplied  the  sculpture),  and  the 
Fontana  delle  Tartarughe.  In  Genoa  he  finished  the  church  of  the 
S.  S.  Annunziata,  and  he  was  employed  on  the  Villa  d'Este  at  Tivoll 
and  the  Villa  Aldobrandini  at  Frascati. 

PRATI 
XVIII    Century 

Prati  collaborated  with  Count  Frigimelica  in  building  the  Villa  Pisani, 
at  Stra  near  Venice,  in  the  eighteenth  centurj-. 

261 


ARCHITECTS     AND     LANDSCAPE- 

RAINALDI    (GIROLAMO) 
1570-1655 

Rainaldi  was  a  Roman  and  his  principal  works  are  in  Rome.  He 
planned  the  church  of  S.  Agnese;  built  the  facade  of  S.  Andrea  della 
Valle,  the  facade  of  S.  Maria  in  Canipitelli,  and  the  Palazzo  Pamphily 
on  the  Piazza  Navona.  He  added  two  pavilions  to  the  Farnesina, 
and  designed  the  grounds  of  the  Villa  Borghese  and  the  gardens  of 
the  Villa  Mondragone  at  Frascati.  In  Bologna  he  built  the  church  of 
S.  Lucia. 

RAPHAEL  SANZIO 
1483-1520 
Raphael  succeeded  Bramante  as  chief  architect  of  St.  Peter's.  His 
most  important  villa  is  the  famous  Villa  Madama  near  Rome.  The 
Farnesina  in  Rome  was  built  by  him,  and  he  laid  out  the  gardens 
of  the  Vatican.  His  other  works  in  Rome  are  the  Palazzo  CafTarelli 
(now  Stoppani)  and  the  Capella  Chigi.  In  Florence  he  designed  the 
fa9ades  of  the  church  of  San  Lorenzo  and  of  the  Palazzo  Pandolfini 
(now  Nencini). 

REPTON   (HUMPHREY) 
1752-1818 

Repton,  who  was  born  at  Bury  St.  Edmunds,  began  life  as  a  mer- 
chant, but  having  failed  in  his  business,  became  a  landscape-gardener. 
He  published  "  Observations  on  Landscape  Gardening"  (1803),  and  is 
the  best-known  successor  of  "  Capability  Brown  "  in  the  naturalistic 
style  of  gardening. 

ROMANO    (GIULIO    DEI    GIANNUZZI  —  ALSO    CALLED 
GIULIO    PIPPI) 

1492-1546 

As  Raphael's  pupil,  Giulio  Romano  painted  the  architectural  back- 
grounds of  Raphael's  frescoes  in  the  Vatican,  and  this  led  to  his 
studying  architecture.  His  masterpiece  is  the  Palazzo  del  Te  at 
Mantua,  where  he  also  built  a  part  of  the  Palazzo  Ducale.  He  car- 
ried out  Raphael's  decorations  in  the  Villa  Madama. 

262 


GARDENERS    MENTIONED 

RUGGIERI    (ANTONIO    MARIA) 
XVII I    Century 

Ruggieri  built  the  Villa  Alario  (now  Visconti  di  Saliceto)  on  the  Navi- 
glio  near  Milan,  and  the  facade  of  the  church  of  S.  Firenze  in  Flor- 
ence. He  also  remodelled  the  interior  of  Santa  Felicita  in  Florence, 
and  in  Milan   he  built  the  Palazzo  Cusani. 

SANGALLO  (ANTONIO  GIAMBERTI  DA) 
1455-1554 
Antonio  da  Sangallo  was  a  brother  of  Giuhano,  and  famous  as  a 
carver  of  crucifixes.  He  altered  Hadrian's  tomb  in  Rome  into  the 
Castle  of  St.  Angelo,  and  laid  out  a  part  of  the  Vatican  gardens. 
The  church  of  the  Madonna  di  S.  Biagio  in  Montepulciano  and  the 
fortress  of  Civita  Castellana  were  built  by  him. 

SANGALLO,  THE  YOUNGER    (ANTONIO    CORDIANI    DA) 

1483-1546 
This  Sangallo  was  a  nephew  of  the  other  Antonio,  and  a  pupil  of 
Bramante's.  After  Raphael's  death  he  became  the  leading  architect 
of  St.  Peter's.  The  fortress  at  Civita  Vecchia  is  his  work.  In  Rome 
he  planned  the  outer  gardens  of  the  Vatican  and  built  the  right-hand 
chapel  in  S.  Giacomo  degli  Spagnuoli,  the  beautiful  Palazzo  Mar- 
chionne  Baldassini,  the  Palazzo  Sacchetti,  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
Palazzo  Farnese. 

SANGALLO    (GIULIANO    GIAMBERTI    DA) 

1445-1516 

Giuliano  da  Sangallo,  the  Florentine  architect,  was  also  noted  as  an 
engineer  and  a  carver  in  wood.  His  great  work  is  the  villa  at  Poggio 
a  Caiano  near  Florence,  with  a  hall  having  the  widest  ceiling  then 
known.  He  also  built  the  Villa  Petraia  at  Castello,  near  Florence, 
and  in  or  near  Florence  the  sacristy  and  cloister  of  San  Spirito,  the 
cloister  for  the  Frati  Eremitani  di  S.  Agostino,  and  the  villa  of 
Poggio  Imperiale.  Among  his  other  works  are:  the  Palazzo  Rovere 
near  San  Pietro  in  Vincoli,  in  Rome,  and  the  Palazzo  Rovere  at 
Savona.  Sangallo  also  constructed  many  fortresses.  After  Bra- 
mante's death  he  worked  with  Raphael  on  St.  Peter's. 

26^ 


ARCHITECTS     AND     LANDSCAPE- 

SANSOVINO   (JACOPO   TATTI) 
1487-1570 

Sansovino,  though  a  Florentine  by  birth,  worked  principally  in  Venice. 
He  was  equally  distinguished  as  sculptor  and  architect.  In  the  latter 
capacity  he  built  in  Venice  the  Zecca  or  Mint,  the  Loggietta,  the  Pa- 
lazzo Cornaro,  the  Palazzo  Corner  della  Ca  Grande,  the  Scala  d'Oro 
in  the  Doge's  palace,  the  churches  of  San  Martino  and  San  Fantino, 
and  his  masterpiece,  the  Library  of  San  Marco.  In  Rome  the  Palazzo 
Gaddi  (now  Nicolini)  was  built  by  him. 

SAVING    (DOMENICO) 
XVIII  Century 
Savino  is  mentioned  among  the  landscape-gardeners  who  remodelled 
the  grounds  of  the  Villa  Borghese. 

TITO    (SANTI    DI)    OF    FLORENCE 

1536-1603 
Santi  di  Tito  of  Florence  was  known  as  an  historical  painter,  and  also 
as  a  builder  of  villas  at  Casciano  and  Monte  Oliveto.     An  octagonal 
villa  at  Peretola  was  buih  by  him,  and  he  did  some  decorative  work  in 
the  Villa  Pia.     In  Florence  he  built  the  Palazzo  Dardinelli. 

IL  TRIBOLO  (NICC0L6  PERICOLI) 
1485-1550 
11  Tribolo,  the  Florentine  sculptor,  studied  under  Sansovino.  He  be- 
came known  for  his  beautiful  designs  in  tile-work,  of  which  the  Villa 
Castello  near  Florence  shows  many  examples.  He  collaborated  with 
Ammanati  in  laying  out  the  Boboli  garden,  and  the  great  grotto  at 
Castello  is  his  work. 

UDINE    (GIOVANNI    DA) 
1487-1564 
Giovanni  da  Udine,  born,  as  his   name  indicates,  in  the  chief  city  of 
the  province   of   Friuli,  was  one   of  the   most   celebrated   decorative 
artists   of  his  day.      He   studied   under  Giorgione  and  Raphael,  and 
became  noted  for  his  stained  glass  and  for  the  invention  of  a  stucco 

264 


GARDENERS    MENTIONED 

as  durable  as  that  of  the  Romans.  His  stucco-work  in  the  Villa  Ma- 
dama  and  in  the  loggias  of  the  Vatican  is  famous,  and  part  of  the  deco- 
ration of  the  Borgia  rooms  in  the  Vatican  is  his  work.  Michel- 
angelo's chapel  of  the  Medici  in  Florence  was  painted  and  decorated 
in  stucco  by  Udine,  and  he  carried  out,  in  painting,  some  of  Ra- 
phael's designs  for  the  great  hall  of  the  Farnesina.  The  Palazzo 
Grimani  in  Venice  and  the  Palazzo  Massimi  alle  Colonne  in  Rome 
were  partly  decorated  by  him. 

VAGA    (PIERIN    DEL) 

1500-1547 

Del  Vaga,  whose  real  name  was  Pietro  Buonaccorsi,  was  born  near 
Florence.  He  was  a  pupil  of  Raphael's,  and  after  the  latter's  death 
was  employed  in  finishing  a  part  of  his  work  in  the  Vatican.  Almost 
all  del  Vaga's  work  was  done  in  Genoa,  where  he  painted  the  state 
apartments  in  the  Villa  Doria.  The  charming  plaster  decorations 
in  the  Palazzo  Pallavicini  (now  Cataldi)  are  by  him,  and  also  the 
Hercules  cycle  in  the  Palazzo  Odero  (now  Mari). 

VASANZIO    (GIOVANNI) 
B. ,  d.  1622 

Vasanzio,  known  also  as  II  Fiammingo,  but  whose  real  name  was  John 
of  Xanten,  was  a  Flemish  architect  who  came  to  Italy  and  had  con- 
siderable success  in  Rome.  He  built  the  Villa  Borghese  in  Rome 
and  designed  the  fountains  of  the  inner  court  of  the  Villa  Pia.  He 
also  worked  on  the  Villa  Mondragone  at  Frascati  and  succeeded  Fla- 
minio  Ponzio  as  architect  of  the  Palazzo  Rospigliosi  in  Rome. 

VASARI  (GIORGIO) 
1511-1574 
Vasari,  who  was  born  at  Arezzo,  was  a  pupil  of  Michelangelo  and 
Andrea  del  Sarto.  Though  he  considered  himself  a  better  painter 
than  architect,  it  is  chiefly  as  the  latter  that  he  interests  the  modern 
student.  He  built  the  court  of  the  Ufifizi  in  Florence  and  planned  the 
Villa  di  Papa  Giulio  in  Rome ;  painted  the  ceiling  of  the  great  hall  of 
the  Palazzo  Vecchio  in  Florence,  and  carved  the  figure  of  Architecture 
on  the  tomb  of  Michelangelo  in  Santa  Croce.  He  is,  however,  chiefly 
famous  for  his  lives  of  the  Italian  painters  and  architects. 

265 


ARCHITECTS   MENTIONED 

VIGNOLA    (GIACOMO    BAROZZI    DA) 

1507-1573 
Vignola,  one  of  the  greatest  architects  of  the  sixteenth  century,  born 
at  Vignola,  in  the  province  of  Modena,  followed  Michelangelo  as  the 
architect  of  St.  Peter's.  The  Villa  Lante  at  Bagnaia,  near  Viterbo, 
is  attributed  to  him.  In  Rome  he  built  the  celebrated  Villa  di  Papa 
Giulio,  though  the  plan  was  Vasari's;  also  the  garden-architecture  of 
the  Orti  Farnesiani  on  the  Palatine.  His  masterpiece  is  the  palace 
at  Caprarola,  near  Viterbo.  He  also  built  the  great  Palazzo  Farnese 
at  Piacenza,  various  buildings  at  Bologna,  and  the  loggia  of  the  Villa 
Mondragone  at  Frascati.  His  church  of  the  Gesu  in  Rome  greatly 
influenced  other  architects.  His  text-book  on  the  Orders  of  Archi- 
tecture is  one  of  the  best-known  works  on  the  subject. 


266 


INDEX 


Acqua  Sola,  gardens  of,  42,  53 

Albani,  Cardinal,  113 

Albani,  Villa,   Pietro  Nolli's  work  on,  no; 

Antonio  Nolli's  work  on,  113 
d'Albaro,  San  Francesco,  villas  at,   188 
Alessi,  Galeazzo:  Strada  Nuova,  176;  Villa 

Imperiali    (Scassi),    179;    Villa   Paradise, 

189;  Villa  Cambiaso,  189 
Algardi,  Alessandro,  109 
Ammanati,  Bartolommeo,  Boboli  garden,  25 ; 

Villa  di  Papa  Giulio,  84 
Anguissola,  Count,  212 
Arethusa,  grotto  of,  at  Villa  d'Este,  147 

Battaglia,  castle  of  Cattajo  at,  233 

Bernini,  185 

Bisuschio:  see  Villa  Cicogna 

Boboli  garden,  25 ;  Isola  Bella  in,  29 

Bologna,  Giovanni  da,  37  j  figure  of  the 
Apennines,   57 

Bombicci,  Villa,  53 

Borghese,  Cardinal  Scipione,  148 

Borghese,  Villa,  107 

Borromean  Islands,  197 

Borromeo,  Cardinal  Charles,  201 

Borromeo,  Count  Vitaliano  IV,  198 

Borromini,  163 

Botanic  Garden  at  Padua,  239 

Bramante  ;  Vatican  gardens,  81 ;  double  stair- 
case in  the  Vatican,  97 

Brenta,  the,  233,  243 

Brown,  "  Capability,"  205 

Brunswick,  Caroline  of,  184 

Buonaccorsi :  see  Vaga 

Buontalenti,  25 

Burnet,  Bishop:  description  of  Isola  Bella, 
201 


Cadenabbia,  2 14 

Cafaggiuolo,  Villa,  30 

Caffe  at  the  Villa  Albani,  1 14 

Cagnola,  Villa,  219 

Cambiaso,  Villa,  189 

Cambiaso,  Villa;  see  Paradiso 

Campi,  Villa,  54 

Campiobbi,  48 

Camporesi,  108 

Canopus,  Valley  of,  at  Villa  of  Hadrian,  148 

Capra,  Villa,  at  Vicenza,  246 

Caprarola,  97 ;  Vignola's  casino,  131 ;  chdteau 
d''eau,  131 

Careggi,  Villa,  30 

Carloni,  the :  statue  of  Neptune  in  Villa 
Doria,  175 

Carlotta,  Villa,  at  Cadenabbia,  214 

Casino  of  the  Aurora,  119 

Casino  del  Papa :  see  Villa  Pia 

Castelli :  terraces  on  the  Isola  Bella,  198 

Castello,  Giovanni  Battista,  173 

Castello,  Villa,  30 

Cattajo,  castle  of,  233 

Cecchignola,  hunting-lodge  of,  119 

Celimontana,  Villa,  119 

Cetinale,  Villa,  64 ;  hermitage  at,  66 

Chateaux  d'eau  at  the  Villa  Aldobrandini,  152  ; 
Villa  Borghese,  107;  Caprarola,  131;  Villa 
Cicogna,  217;  Palazzo  Colonna,  119;  Villa 
Conti,  155;  Villa  d'Este  at  Tivoli,  144; 
Villa  Lante,  136;  Lancellotti,  164;  Mon- 
dragone,  151 ;   Val  San  Zibio,  237 

Chigi,  Flavio,  65 

Chigi,  Villa,  117 

Cicogna,  Villa,  214;  chdteau  d'eau,  217 

Clement  VII :  see  Medici,  Giuliano  de' 

Colonna,  Cardinal,  83 


267 


INDEX 


Colonna,  Palazzo,  Il8;  chdkau  li^diii,  119 
Como,  villa  of  Bishop  of,  213 
Conti,  Villa :  see  Torlonia 
Cordova,  Cardinal  Bishop  of,  140 
Corsini,  Villa,  48 
Crivelli,  Villa,  near  Inverigo,  218 
Crivelli :  work  on  the  Isola  Bella,  198 
Cuzzano,  Villa,  250 

Danti,  Villa,  48,  57 
De'  Gori,  Villa:  see  Palazzina,  La 
Durazzo-Grapollo,  Villa,   186 
Dussieux,  no 

Este,  Cardinal  Ippolito  d',  140 

Este,  Villa  d',  at  Cernobbio,  208 

Este,  Villa  d',  at  Tivoli,  139 ;  grotesque 
garden-architecture,  29 ;  Ligorio's  work, 
140;   frescoes  of  the  Zuccheri,  143 

Evelyn,  description  of  Villa  Medici,  89;  of 
Villa  Doria,  175 

Falconieri,  Villa,  160 

Farnese,  Cardinal  Alexander,  127 

Farnese  gardens,  97 

Ferrara,  Alfonso  I  of,   140 

Ferri,  Antonio,  48 

Fontana,  Carlo :  Cetinale,  65 ;  palace  and 
garden-pavilions  on  the  Isola  Bella,  198 

Fontana,  Giovanni;  Villa  Borghese,  107; 
thMtri  d'eau  at  Mondragone,  151  ;  water- 
works at  the  Villa  Aldobrandini,  152 

Fonte  air  Erta,  51 

Frascati,  Jeiix  d'eaux  in  villas,  107;  char- 
acteristic features  of  villas,  139 

Gallio,  Cardinal,  184 
Gambara,  Cardinal,  132 
Gamberaia,  Villa,  45 
Garden,  Botanic,  at  I'adua,  239 
Garden-house  at  Caprarola,  131 
Garden-house  at  Stra,  244 
Gardens : 

Acqua  Sola,  1 85 

Boboli,  25 

Farnese,  97 

Florentine,  English  influence  on,  21 

Genoese,  characteristics  of,  178 

Giusti,  250 

Pigna,  82 

Vatican,  98 


Genoa,  villas  of,  173 
Giacomelli,  Villa,  249 
Giulio,  Villa  di  Papa,  84 
Giusti  gardens,  250 
Giustiniani,  Villa,  174 

Grotto  at  Villa  Castello,  34;  at  Villa  d'Este, 
147;  at  Villa  Gamberaia,  45 

Hermitage  at  Cetinale,  66 

Imperiali,  Villa,  at  Sampierdarena :  see  Villa 

Scassi 
Imperiali,  Villa,  at  San  Fruttuoso,  190 
Isola   Bella,    Lake  of  Como,    198;    Bishop 

Burnet's  description  of,  201 
Isola  Bella  in  Boboli  garden,  29 
Isola  Madre,  Lake  of  Como,  197 

Julius  III,  84 
Juvara,  231 

Lancellotti,  Villa,  164 

Lante,  Villa,  132;  chateau  d'eau,  136;  gar- 
dens, 97 

Le  Notre,  no,  139 

Ligorio,  Pirro,  98 ;  Casino  del  Papa,  98 ; 
Villa  d'Este  at  Tivoli,  140 

Lippi,  Annibale,  90 

Lomellini,  Villa,  174 

Longhena,  232 

Ludovisi,  Villa,  n9 


Maisan  de  plaisance,  the,  22 

Malcontenta,  Villa  della,  245 

Malta,  Villa  of  the  Knights  of,  1 17 

Marchionne,  Carlo,  113 

Mattei,  Villa,  ng 

Medici,  Eleonora  de',  25 

Medici,  Giuliano  de'  (Clement  VII),  82 

Medici,  Villa,  89 

Michelangelo:   Villa  Bombicci,  53;    Villa  di 

Papa  Giulio,  84 
Modena,  Villa  of  Duke  of,  at  Varcse,  224 
Mondragone,  97  ;  work  by  Flaminio  Ponzio, 

148;     Vignola's     loggia,    151;     Giovanni 

Fontana's  theatre  d'eau,  151 
Montaigne:  description  of  Casttllo,  33 
Montalto,  Cardinal,  132 
Montorsoli,  Fra,  174 
Moore,  Jacob,  108 
Mora,  iq8 
Muti,  Villa,  159 


268 


INDEX 


Naples,  King  of,  83 
Negroni,  Villa,  119 
Nolli,  Antonio,  113 
NoUi,  Pietro,  110 

Olivieri,  Orazio,  147 

Padua,   Botanic   Garden,    239;    Prate   della 

Valle,  240 
Palazzina,  La,  71 ;  theatre  at,  72 
Palladio,  180,  232 
Pallavicini,  Villa,  at  Pegli,  185 
Pallavicini  alle  Peschiere,  Villa,  185,  i8b 
Palmieri,  Villa,  57 

Pamphily,  Villa,  109;  thedtre  d^eau,  no 
Papa,  Casino  del :  see  Villa  Pia 
Papa  Giulio,  Villa  di,  84 
Paradisino,  Villa,  189 
Paradiso,  Villa,  189 
Parigi,  Giulio,  38 
Parma,  Duchess  of,  83 
Parodi,  Palazzo,  177 
Peruzzi,  Baldassare,  at  Belcaro,  63 ;  at  Vico- 

bello,  69 
Peter  Leopold,  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  38 
Petraia,  Villa,  30;  fountain  at,  37 
Pia,  Villa,  140 
Pigna,  Giardino  della,  82 
Piranesi,  117 
Pisani,  Alvise,  243 
Pisani,  Villa,  at  Stra,  244 
Pius  IV,  98 
Pliniana,  Villa,  212 
Poggio  a  Caiano,  30 
Poggio  Imperiale,  38 
Ponzio,  Flaminio,  148 
Porta,  Giacomo  della,  144;  Villa  Aldobran- 

dini,  151 
Prati,  243 

Pratolino,  Villa,  30,  57 
Priorato,    II :    see  Villa   of   the   Knights   of 

Malta 
Pulci,  Castel,  57 

Rainaldo,  Girolamo,  107 

Raphael,  82 

Repton,  Humphrey,  205 

Riario,  Cardinal,  132 

Ridolfi,  Cardinal,  132 

Romano,  Giulio,  82 

Rotonda  Cagnola ;  see  Cagnola 


269 


Rotonda  Capra :  see  Capra 
Rubens,  176 
Ruffini,  Cardinal,  163 
Ruggieri,  223 

Sacchetti,  Villa,  119 

Sampierdarena,  ^^ 

Sangallo,  Antonio  da,  82  ;  A.  da  Sangallo  the 

Younger,  104 
Sangallo,  Giuliano  da,  38,  82 
Sansovino,  232 
Savino,  107 
Scassi,  Villa,  179 
Sixtus  V,  132 
Stra,  Villa  Pisani  at,  244 
Strada  Nuova  in  Genoa,  176 

Tiepolo :  Villa  Pisani,  244 ;  Villa  Valmarana, 

249 
Tito,  Santi  di,  53 
Torlonia,  Villa,  155 
Tribolo,  II :   Boboli  garden,  25 ;  fountain  at 

Castello,  33 ;  at  Petraia,  37 

Udine,  Giovanni  da,  83 

Vaga,  Pierin  del,  173 
Valmarana,  Villa,  249 
Val  San  Zibio,  Villa  of,  237 
Vasanzio,  Giovanni  (II  Fiammingo),  107 
Vasari,  84 

Vatican,  gardens  of,  81 
Venetia,  villa-architecture  of,  232 
Vigna  del  Papa :  see  Villa  di  Papa  Giulio 
Vignola :  Villa  di  Papa  Giulio,  84 ;   Farnese 
gardens,  97;     Caprarola,    131;    loggia  at 
Mondragone,  151 
ViUa: 

Ai  Collazzi :  see  Bombicci 

Alario :  see  Visconti  di  Saliceto 

Albani,  no,  113 

Aldobrandini,  151 

Belcaro,  63 

Belrespiro :  see  Pamphily 

Bombicci,  53 

Borghese,  107 

Cafaggiulo,  30 

Cagnola,  219 

Cambiaso  (Paradiso),  1S9 

Cambiaso,  by  Alessi,  1 89 

Campi,  54 

Capponi  at  Arcetri,  48 


INDEX 


Capra,  246 

Caprarola,  97 

Careggi,  30 

Carlotta,  214 

Castel  Pulci,  57 

Celimontana,  119 

Cetinale,  64 

Chigi,  117 

Cicogna,  214 

Conti :  see  Torlonia 

Corsini,  48 

Crivelli,  21S 

Cuzzano,  250 

Danti,  48,  57 

De'  Gori:  see  Palazzina,  La 

Doria  in  Genoa,  175 

Durazzo-GrapoUo,   186 

d'Este  at  Cernobbio,  184 

d'Este  at  Tivoli,  139 

Falconieri,  160 

Fonte  air  Erta,  51 

Gamberaia,  41 

Giacomelli,  249 

Giustiniani,  174 

Imperiali  at  San  Fruttuoso,  190 

Imperial! :  see  Scassi 

Isola  Bella,  198 

Lancellotti,  164 

Lante,  97 

Lappeggi,  57 

Lomellini,  174 

Ludovisi,  119 

Madama,  82 

Malcontenta,  245 

Malta,  of  the  Knights  of,  117 

Medici,  89 

Mondragone,  97 


Villa: 

Muti,  159 

Negroni,  1 19 

Palazzina,  La,  71 

Pallavicini  at  Pegli,  185 

Pallavicini  alle  Peschiere,  185 

Pabnieri,  57 

Pamphily,  109 

di  Papa  Giulio,  84 

Paradisino,  189 

Paradiso :  see  Cambiaso 

Petraia,  30 

Pia,  140 

Pisani,  244 

Pliniana,  212 

Poggio  a  Caiano,  30 

Poggio  Imperiale,  30 

Pratolino,  57 

Priorato,  del:  see  Malta 

Rotonda :  see  Cagnola  and  Capra 

Sacchetti,  119 

Scassi,  179 

Torlonia,  155 

Valmarana,  249 

Val  San  Zibio,  237 

Vicobello,  69 

Visconti  di  Saliceto,  220 
Villa  subiirhana,  the,  22 
Villas  of  the  Brenta,  240;   of  the  Brianza, 
218;  Florentine,  19;  Genoese,  173;  Mila. 
nese,  197;  Roman,  81;   Sienese.  63;  Ve- 
netian, 231 
Vismara,  198 

Xanten,  John  of :  see  \'as:inzio 

Zocchi,  etchings  by,  33 
Zuccheri,  the,  85,  143 


270 


